*V- -BX92.H- 

ONITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



\\ 




THE OLD PAESONA'GE. 



"The Mountain Society:" 



A HISTORY OF THE 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

ORANGE, N. J. 



ORGANIZED ABOUT THE YEAR 1719 AS AN INDEPENDENT SOCIETY, AND LONG KNOWN 
AS THE " CHURCH AT NEWARK MOUNTAINS ;" PRESBYTERIAN SINCE 1748 J INCOR- 
PORATED IN 1783 AS THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NEWARK ; 
AND KNOWN BY ITS PRESENT TITLE SINCE 1811 : WITH AN ACCOUNT 
OF THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS IN NEWARK AND ITS VICINITY, TOE 
NAMES AND LOCALITIES OF HIE FIRST SETTLERS NEAR THE 
MOUNTAIN, THE CONTROVERSIES AND RIOTS RELATIVE TO 
PROPRIETARY AND INDIAN LAND TITI.RS. INCIDENTS OF 
THE REVOLUTION, THE FORMATION OF OTHER 
CHURCHES, ETC., ETC. ; COMPRISING THE 
MOST INTERESTING PARTICULARS IN THE 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF 
ORANGE. 



BY JAMES HOYT 



PASTOR OF THB CHURCH. 



NEW YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, BARKER & CO., 

No. 25 Park Row. 

1860. 










Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

C. M. SAXTON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of New York. 



Edward O. Jenkins, I rinter, 
26 Frankfort St., N. T. 



This volume — the fruit of laborious and careful research, yet 
somewhat hastily written — is respectfully presented to the Session 
of the First Church, under whose advice it was undertaken ; to the 
Congregation whose indulgence has been shown to the writer in its 
preparation ; to his many fellow-townsmen who have encouraged 
him in it ; to the gentlemen who have aided in the collection of 
its materials ; and to all who shall further patronize it as a worthy 
endeavor to preserve what is memorable in our past and passing 
local history. 



PREFACE 



The historical materials here presented have been 
collected, during the last two years, in the midst of 
professional engagements which only a pastor can 
fully appreciate. The task of arrangement has been 
executed during the latter half of that period. Had 
all the difficulties of such a work been understood by 
the writer in advance, it is not at all likely he would 
ever have undertaken it. Yet he has felt in a degree 
compensated by the success of his researches. This 
is the only compensation expected, aside from the 
satisfaction of doing a service which may prove ac- 
ceptable to the community among whom his lot is 
cast. A local history of this sort can have no general 
circulation through the book markets. Its value, 
however, is not entirely local, nor limited in time. 
The Christian public at large, and the Church of the 
future, have an interest in the preservation from 
oblivion of the names and deeds of those who founded 
our civil and sacred institutions. 



6 PREFACE. 

He who planted His Church, and with it a purer 
civilization, in Canaan, " made His wonderful works 
to be remembered." This was done for a time by 
historical monuments, as by the twelve stones taken 
out of Jordan, the Ebenezer set up by Samuel, the 
manna laid up in the ark, <fcc., — memorials that served 
to perpetuate a traditional history. But these memo- 
rials were perishable, and traditions could not long 
be relied on. Hence the pens of historians were also 
employed. 

The early Puritan Churches of America have abun- 
dance of unwritten memorials. In every piece of our 
grand frame-work of institutions are seen the Ebene- 
zers which successive generations have reared. The 
First Church of Orange may point to its "pile of 
stones," containing the very material of a more an- 
cient sanctuary — " our holy and our beautiful house, 
where our fathers praised," more than a hundred years 
ago. It has preserved, too, its ancient faith and pol- 
ity. But no written history of it has ever before 
been attempted. The men of the past knew little of 
their own importance to the religious future of the 
country ; and if they had known it better, they were 
so engrossed with the struggles and necessities of the 
hour as to have little leisure for the historian's work. 
If we have as little in these no less stirring times, we 



PREFACE. ( 

have reached a position which makes it imperative 
that the task here undertaken be no longer delayed. 
The past recedes, and the obscurity that gathers over 
the annals of our older churches will soon be a dark- 
ness forbidding all research. This conviction led to 
the formation, in 1852, of the Presbyterian Historical 
Society, with which all ministers, elders and others 
are invited to " cooperate, by collecting and trans- 
mitting old sermons, pamphlets, newspapers, maga- 
zines, letters, books, manuscripts, portraits, or any 
relics of the olden time which throw tight upon our 
annals."* 

The existing records of our Church Session date 
from January 30, 1803, about a year after the settle- 
ment of Mr. Hillyer. Those which were extant when 
he came to the parish are said to have perished in a 
fire. Thus the names of the ancient officers of the 
Church, the record of its membership, and the account 
of its spiritual administration for more than eighty 
years, were forever lost, except as the first might be 
gathered from other documents and memorials which 
time has spared. The oldest papers in the parish are 
certain deeds preserved by the trustees, which date 
from its beginning. The oldest volume is the private 

* Any contributions of the kind may be sent to Samuel Agnew, 
Esq., 821 Chestnut street Philadelphia. 



6 PREFACF 

account-book, in the form of a ledger, and once well 
bound in parchment, kept by the second pastor, 
Caleb Smith, and commenced in 1751. In this are 
found the names of his parishioners, of a number of 
boys instructed by him, and an account of the settle- 
ment of his estate by the executors. After his death 
the trustees kept their records in it, and copied into 
it the charter obtained in 1783. And from that time 
the minutes of the trustees, and those of the annual 
meetings of the parish, have been preserved. From 
these and other sources much knowledge has been ob- 
tained respecting the parish during the last century. 
The labor involved in researches of this kind is 
peculiarly tedious. Let the reader imagine himself 
starting from the mouth of the Mississippi, without a 
map, to trace backward its lengthened flow to its dis- 
tant sources. Let him think of following' the trunk 
up to its branches, and these to their tributaries, and 
these to their thousand little feeders and inlets. 
Such a labor is this. It has sometimes required 
months to trace some family stream to its ancient 
springlet. Many an afternoon has been passed in the 
old graveyard, among monuments so bronzed and 
moss-grown by the long action of the elements, as 
almost to defy the hand of Old Mortality. Recourse 
has been had to historical societies, to ecclesiastical 



'^FACE. y 

records, to old account-books and journals, to deeds 
and wills, to town records, and to the living descend- 
ants of pastors and others noticed in the history. 
The list of Church officers and the statistical tables 
are the result of investigations renewed and perse- 
vered in for a year or more. Of all this the reader 
will have little thought as his eye runs over the 
pages. But as the beauty and pleasure of life, or the 
value of any work of art, is a result depending on a 
thousand indispensable details and trifles, even so is 
it with a historical narrative. The present labor will 
have its reward, if, in this " walk about Zion," the 
writer has gathered anything worthy of being " told 
to the generation following." 

In that portion of the work which relates to the 
early settlements of the town, free use has been made 
of Dr. Stearns' History of the First Church in Newark ; 
and much personal aid has been received from Dr. 
Samuel H. Congar, " the indefatigable antiquarian of 
Newark," and librarian of the Xew Jersey Historical 
Society. Indeed, without the kind interest taken in 
the work by the latter gentleman, the history in its 
present expanded form would never have been under- 
taken. In the biographical notices of two of the pas- 
tors (Smith and Hilly er), much information has been 
drawn from Sprague's Annals of the American Pul- 



10 PREFACE. 

pit. For many facts relating to Jedediah Chapman, 
the writer is indebted to his grandson, Rev. Robert 
H. Chapman, D. D., of Asheville, N". C. He is also 
under obligations to Rev. Dr. Van Rensselaer, of 
Philadelphia, Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, Rev. Dr. 
Murray, of Geneva, Rev. Dr. Krebs, of New York, 
and a number of others, for their courteous responses 
to his inquiries. 

The brief notices given of other religious societies 
in Orange are from statements kindly furnished by 
their present pastors. That of the Bloomfield Church 
is from the published historical discourses of its late 
pastor, Rev. J. M. Sherwood. 

While the particular subject of this history is the 
Mountain Society, it will be seen to be identified 
through a long period with a general history of this 
part of the old township of Newark. The author 
has undertaken it in the hope of doing an acceptable 
service to his fellow-townsmen of every class, as well 
as to the congregation to whom he ministers. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

EAELY SETTLEMENTS. 

A Hundred and Forty Years Ago — Glance at the Colonies — Ante- 
cedent History — Proprietary Government — Settlement of New- 
ark — Names of the Settlers — A Disappointment— Purchase of 
Lands — Second Purchase — Casting of the Lot — Mountain Farms 
— Settlers near the Mountain — Accessions — Men who Made their 
Mark — Character of the Hackinsacks— Bears and "Wolves — 
Houses — Self-Government — End of Proprietary Rule— Horse- 
neck Purchase 13-45 



CHAPTER IT. 

THE MOUNTAIN SOCIETY. 

Half a Century — A Generation Gone — Presbyterianism and Con- 
gregationalism—Changes in Newark — A Society organized at 
the Mountain — Lost Records — Deed given by Thomas Gardner 
in 1719 — Site for a Sanctuary — Question of Date — Newark Par- 
sonage Lands — Purchase made bv the Mountain Societv — Its 



12 CONTENTS. 

Boundaries— A " Dissenting Ministry "—First Meeting-House— 
Spirit of the Settlers— Samuel Pierson, the Carpenter— Hands 
that Helped— A Happy Day— Pews and Pulpit— Lining the 
Psalm — Peaceful Worship 46-57 

CHAPTER III. 

REV. DANIEL TAYLOR. 

Graduation at Killingworth — Labors on Long Island — Death of 
his Wife— Removal to New Jersey — Deeds and Dates— Home- 
stead and Parm— Revival of 1734-5— Negro Plots— The Great 
Land Monopoly— Its Rights Examined — Measures of Defence — 
Prosecutions and Riots— The Rioters Vindicated— Defence of 
the Proprietors— Mr. Taylor's Part in the Controversy — Mr. 
Taylor's Will— His Death— Officers of the Church - 46-81 

CHAPTER IV. 

REV. CALEB SMITH. 

Samuel Harrison's Day-Book — Parsonage House — The Young 
Minister— The Church Presbyterian — The Minister's Marriage — 
Parsonage Memories — Wood-Drawing— More Riots— A Queer 
Wind — Influence on the Provincial Assembly — Indictments 
and Pines— Second Meeting-House — Contract for Finishing — 
Pewholders and Rates — A Hurricane — Death of Mrs. Smith — 
Sanctified Sorrows — Second Marriage — Mr. Smith's Character — 
Catechizing — Anecdotes — His Sickness — His Death — Memoir — 
Settlement of his Estate - 82-110 

CHAPTER V. 

REY. JEDEDIAH CHAPMAN. 

Letters to Rev. Joseph Bellamy— Settlement of Mr. Chapman— 
His Marriage— Inadequate Support— Death of Mrs. Chapman — 
Second Marriage— Samuel Harrison's Will— The Patriot Pastor 



CONTENTS. 13 

— Revolutionary Incidents— Two Young Adventurers— A Court 
Martial — Figures Sometimes Lie — Murder of Stephen Ball — 
Effects of the "War — Fourth of July — Mr. Chapman's Politics — 
The Parish Incorporated— Orange Sloop — Orange Academy — 
Division of Parsonage Lands — Caldwell Church — "Orange " and 
" Orangedale " — Sermon before Synod — Items voted by the 
Trustees — Collection of Rates — Bell-Ringers — Lots for Sale — 
School Advertisements — Church at Bloomfield — Mr. Chapman's 
Salary — His Dismission — Newark Cider — Anecdotes of Mr. C. — 
His Missionary Labors, and Settlement at Geneva — His Death. 

111-153 



CHAPTER VI. 

REV. ASA HILLYEE, D. D. 

A New Century— Light from the Inner Temple — Revival under 
the Preaching of Mr. Griffin — Mr. Hillyer's Impressions of Him 
— Board Account— Rev. Asa Hillyer — Ministry at Madison — 
Call to Orange — Archibald Alexander — Yiew of the Parish — 
Church Officers— The Common— Sale of Lots— Revival of 1807-8 
— Effects on the Youth — A Ball given up — Strong Convictions — 
— An Impressive Scene— The Ingathering — Orange Township — 
Mr. H.'s Salary— Third Meeting-House— The Old Bell— Dedica- 
tion and Thanksgiving — The Sermon — Cost of the Edifice — 
The Mineral Spring— Provision for Servants— Removal from the 
Parsonage— Revival of 1816-17— Sunday-school— Bible Society 
— National Societies — A Doctor's Degree — Academy Deed — 
Retrospect— St. Mark's Episcopal Church — Death of Mrs. Hill- 
yer — Methodist Church — Second Presbyterian and South Orange 
Churches -Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, and the Revival of 1832— 
Dr. Hillyer's Resignation — Division of the General Assembly — 
Sermon before the Synod — The Last Communion — His Death — 
Tablet Inscription 154-202 



14: CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

REV. WILLIAM C. WHITE. 

His Nativity — Studies — Preaching at East Machias — Settlement at 
Orange — State of the Parish — Causes of Diminution — Church 
Officers — Salary — Second Parsonage — First Baptist Church — 
School Laws — End of the Academy — West Bloomfield Church — 
Sexton's Salary — Hymn Book — Lecture-Room — Decrease of 
Membership — Increase of Beneficence — Revival of 1850 — Mor- 
ris and Essex Railroad — Immigration — Alterations of the Sanc- 
tuary — Grace Church — The Old Parsonage Demolished — Mr. 
White's Resignation — His Declining Health — Rev. Silas Billings 
— Mr-. White's Sudden Decease — Minute adopted by the Session 
—Tablet Inscription 203-225 

CHAPTER VIII. 

RE V . JAMES HOTT. 

Five Pastorates — Permanency of the Pastoral Relation — The 
Writer's Settlement — Death of Judge Day — Officers of the 
Church — New Officers— View of the Parish — James Greacen — 
Mission School — North Orange Baptist Church — The Flock 
Smitten— Commercial Crisis — Blessings in Adversity— Revival 
of 1858— Features of the Revival — Additions to the Churches — 
New House of Worship by the Methodist Congregation — Gas 
Lights — Church Edifice at Orange Valley— Sunday-school Re- 
established for Colored People — What we owe to the Past — 
Progress of Society — What we may Claim — Summary View of 
the Churches - - - 226-252 



CHAPTER IX. 

A VIEW OP ORANGE. 

Orange in 1834— Climate— Relations to Newark and New York- 
Extent and Appearance- -Trade and Business — Farms and 



CONTENTS, 15 

Homes— Llewellyn Park — Eagle Eock— The Old Mineral Spring 
—Barrett's Park — The Mountain House— Orange Valley — The 
Village— Springdale Lake — Second Eiver and the Streams that 
form it— Eosedale Cemetery — Institutions of Orange— Printing- 
Press — Orange Journal — The Old Academy Building — Orange 
Female Seminary — Private Schools and Academies — Public 
Schools — The Old Orange Library — The Lyceum — The Orange 
Library Association — What the Village Needs— Late Improve- 
ments — Fire Engine — Police Wanted — Preliminary Measures 
Toward a Better Government of the Town - • 253-280 



HISTORY 



CHAPTER T. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS 



IN those ancient lands where civilization had its 
birth, the centuries pass with little change of 
scenery or society. " That which hath been is now, 
and that which is to be hath already been." Na- 
tions revolve, like the planets, in a fixed orbit, and 
the stereoscope of history presents ever the same 
view. The pyramids are their historic symbols. 
The current of the ages brings nothing to them and 
bears nothing away. Even changes of race and 
religion leave behind them a marvellous sameness. 
The old is a receptacle of the new, and arts, man- 
ners and ideas are soon shaped to the mould into 
which they have been cast. The causes are ob- 
vious ; the cautious conservatism of despotic gov- 
ernments, and the stagnation of man's intellectual 
life under them. 
2 



14 GLANCE AT THE COLONIES. 

We need not suggest to the intelligent reader the 
contrast seen in our western civilization, especially 
in the free States of North America. Here all is 
action, motion, progression. Turning the eye to 
any part of the wide field of our history, we see 
realized in society the gigantic strides ascribed by 
Homer to his divinities. 

The present history elates from a point not very 
ancient — less than two hundred years ago. Its 
proper beginning lies nearer, in the time of George 
the First, about two-thirds of a century before our 
national independence. The European popula- 
tion of New England then scarcely exceeded a 
hundred thousand. East and West Jersey were 
just united. The smoke of the wigwam rose here 
in the forest ; the fox and the wolf strayed without 
fear from their mountain coverts. 

The Boston News-Letter, the first American 
newspaper, was but fourteen years old, and without 
a competitor. Philadelphia and New York were 
provincial villages. 

The first post-office in America, at New York, 
had been established less than ten years. The 
spinning-wheel was just crossing the ocean, and the 
potato was just taking root on the plantations of 
Londonderry. The first cargo of tea was about em- 
barking, to try its fortunes this side of the water. 
The colonists were yet dependent on Europe for 
their table luxuries, for many physical comforts, 



ANTECEDENT HISTORY. 15 

for Bibles and other books, for academic privileges 
and preachers. There was in New York " a small 
Presbyterian flock, assembling in a house without 
galleries, six out of its eight windows being closed 
with boards, poverty preventing their being glazed, 
and the fraction of light being enough for the hand- 
ful of people."* 

The old Presbytery of Philadelphia, formed 
about 1706 with seven ministers, had increased in 
number to twenty-five, and had just resolved itself 
in 1716 into four presbyteries, forming a synod. 
New Jersey had scarcely a dozen churches. The 
founder of Methodism was a youth of sixteen in 
Oxford university, quite ignorant of the grand mis- 
sion for which the grace of God was preparing him. 
His future competitor in the work of evangelical 
reform, George Whitefield, was playing about the 
rooms of the Bell Inn, kept . by his mother at 
Gloucester, a lad of five years old. Since that day, 
— a hundred and forty years ago — what hath God 
wrought ! These fourteen decades, — have they not 
been, in the progress of American civilization and 
Christianity, as fourteen centuries ? 

But we shall have to go back a little farther to 
gain the proper starting-point of the present narra- 
tive. Our history will lead us over a considerable 
period, during which civil and ecclesiastical affairs 

* Webster's Hist. Pres. Church, p. 120. The Church was or- 
ganized in 1715. 



16 PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 

were blended. We snail find the ground we stand 
upon a field of conflict with English proprietors, 
and a religious community unhappily agitated by 
"questions of their law." We may as well, there- 
fore, at the outset, explain the antecedents of that 
controversy, by giving a short account of the settle- 
ment of this region, under the proprietary govern- 
ment. 

As early as 1658, a settlement was begun upon 
what was called the " Bergen grant," on which a 
trading station had been established by the Dutch, 
forty years before. In 1663, a band of Puritans 
from Long Island obtained permission of the Dutch 
to plant their institutions on the banks of the 
Earitan and the Minnisink. In the following year, 
some families of Quakers were found on the south 
side of Earitan Bay. In the same year, King 
Charles the Second, by letters patent under the 
great seal of England, granted to his brother James, 
Duke of York, a tract of land stretching from the 
Connecticut river to the Delaware. Of this exten- 
sive grant, the portion now called New Jersey was 
conveyed the same year, by deeds of lease and re- 
lease, to John Lord Barclay [or Berkley] and Sir 
George Carteret. This portion was again divided, 
in 1676, between Sir George and the assigns of 
Lord Berklejr, the former taking the eastern part. 
Carteret, by his will, dated December 5, 1678, de- 
vised to certain trustees therein named a power to 



KULES OF SETTLEMENT. 17 

sell East New Jersey ; a trust which was executed 
three years thereafter, by a sale, conveying the 
same in fee to William Penn, Eobert West and 
others, to the number of twelve. These twelve 
proprietors, by particular deeds, took each a part- 
ner, so that East New Jersey became vested in 
twenty-four persons, who were known thencefor- 
ward as the twenty-four Proprietors. By these a 
Council of Proprietors was appointed, to consist of 
at least one-third part of the whole number of 
proprietors, or their proxies, and possessing all ne- 
cessary powers of administration.* 

To encourage immigration, the proprietors, Berk- 
ley and Carteret, published their " Charters of 
Concessions," prescribing the fundamental rules and 
methods by which property in their lands should 
be acquired. One was, "That all such persons 
who should transport themselves into the province 
of New Jersey within certain times limited by the 
said Concessions, should be entitled to grants or 
patents under the seal of the Province, for certain 
quantities of acres in the said Concessions expressed, 
paying therefore .yearly the rent of one half-penny, 
sterling money, for every acre so to be granted." 
Another rule was, " That all lands should be pur- 
chased by the governor and council from the 
Indians, from time to time, as there should be oc- 

* See Publication of the Council of Proprietors, March 25, 1746, 
in appendix to Bill in Chancery ; also, in New York Post-Boy. 



18 NEWARK SETTLED. 

casion, in the name of the Lords Proprietors ; and 
every person settling was to pay his proportion of 
that purchase money and charges."* It will be 
seen that the proprietors recognized in these rules 
the right of the Indians to a compensation for their 
lands, while they monopolized the right of purchase. 
No others could buy but through them. The 
Indians could sell only to them. Against this as- 
sumption of power over the soil and its original 
tenants, there was made subsequently a vigorous 
and determined opposition. 

In August, 1665, Philip Carteret, a brother of 
Sir George, having received an appointment from 
the proprietors as governor of the colony, appeared 
among the tenants of the scattered cabins about 
Elizabethtown, which was then but a cluster of four 
houses. In honor of Lady Carteret, the place re- 
ceived her name, and rose into dignity as the capital 
of the province. 

The settlement of Newark, by immigrants from 
Connecticut, began in the following year. The 
movement was occasioned by dissatisfaction with 
certain measures attending the union of the New 

* Publication, &c. as above. They also offered a bounty of 
seventy -five acres for the importation of each able slave. This in- 
human appeal to avarice had its motive in the fact that the Duke 
of York was a patron of the slave trade, and president of the 
African Company. 

f Bancroft, Hist. U. S., VoL II., p. 318. 



OBJECT OF THE SETTLERS. 19 

Haven and the Connecticut colonies, of which one of 
the most obnoxious was the half-way covenant, that 
secured certain ecclesiastical privileges, such as the 
baptism of children, to persons not in full com- 
munion with the church. The pioneer company, 
which comprised about thirty families, came from 
Milford in the spring of 1666. Their first town 
meeting was held the 21st of May, when delegates 
were present from Guilford and Branford to con- 
fer upon the subject of a union in the organization 
of a township. The union was mutually agreed 
upon, and its object and conditions explained and 
arranged. The great object was " the carrying on 
of spiritual concernments, as also of civil and town 
affairs, according to God, and a godly government." 
which had ever been the cherished idea of the 
Puritans. It was a grand religious idea, but every 
experiment, before and then, only added to the 
proof that " spiritual concernments" are best carried 
on through institutions of their own, under political 
protection, yet separated from civil affairs. A godly 
government, as they understood it, cannot long be 
maintained without the disfranchisement of worthy 
citizens. And the making of piety and church 
communion a necessary qualification for civil 
offices, is but a premium offered to hypocrisy. 
The settlement of Newark was among the last ex- 
periments that demonstrated the delusive hope of 
the old Puritans, who were greatly wise in many 



20 FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT. 

things, but not in all. It was another and vain 
repetition of an experiment which the Branford 
pastor had already made at two previous settle- 
ments, first on Long Island, and then at Branford. 

In the following October, the delegates having 
returned and reported, a meeting was held at Bran- 
ford, and two articles drawn up, known as "the 
fundamental agreement," to which twenty-three 
principal men of the town attached their names. 
They were the following : 

"1. That none shall be admitted freemen or free 
Burgesses within our town upon Passaic river, in the 
Province of New Jersey, but such planters as are 
members of some or other of the Congregational 
Churches, nor shall any but such be chosen to 
magistracy, or to carry on any part of civil judica- 
ture, or as deputies or assistants to have power to 
vote in establishing laws, and making or repealing 
them, or to any chief military trust or office ; nor 
shall any but such church members have any vote 
in any such elections ; though all others admitted 
to be planters, have right to their proper inheri- 
tances, and do and shall enjoy all other civil liberties 
and privileges according to all laws, orders, grants, 
which are or shall hereafter be made for this town. 

2. We shall, with care and diligence, provide for 
the maintenance of the purity of religion professed 
in the Congregational churches." * 

Newark Town Eecords. Stearns' Hist., p. 14. 



NAMES OF SETTLEES. 



21 



These articles were subscribed by — 



JASPER CRANE, 
ABRAHAM PIERSON, 
SAMUEL SWALNE, 
LAURENCE WARD, 
THOMAS BLACTHLY, 
SAMUEL PLUM, 
JOSIAH WARD, 
SAMUEL ROSE, 
THOMAS PIERSON, 
JOHN WARD, 
JOHN CATLING, 



RICHARD HARRISON. 
EBENEZER CANFIELD, 
JOHN WARD, SEN., 
EDWARD BALL, 
JOHN HARRISON, 
JOHN CRANE, 
THOMAS HUNTINGTON, 
DELIVERED CRANE, 
AARON BLACTHLY, 
RICHARD LAURENCE, 
JOHN JOHNSON, 



THOMAS LYON. 



And upon being transmitted to the new settlement 
the inhabitants already there held a public meeting, 
June 24, 1667, when the following names, forty in 
number, were also subscribed to them : 



ROBERT TREAT, 
OBADIAH BRUEN, 
MATTHEW CAMFIELD, 
SAMUEL KITCHELL, 
JEREMIAH PECK, 
MICHAEL TOMPKINS, 
STEPHEN FREEMAN, 
HENRY LYON, 
JOHN BROWNE, 
JOHN ROGERS, 
STEPHEN DAVIS, 
2* 



GEORGE DAY, 
THOMAS JOHNSON, 
JOHN CURTIS, 
EPHRAIM BURWELL, 
ROBERT DENISON, 
NATHANIEL WHEELER, 
WILLIAM CAMP, 
JOSEPH WALTERS, 
ROBERT DALGLESH, 
HANS ALBERS, 
THOMAS MORRIS, 



22 A DISAPPOINTMENT. 

HUGH ROBERTS, 
EPHRAIM PENNINGTON, 

JOHN BROOKS, 

ROBERT LYMENS, 

FRANCIS LINLE, 

DANIEL TICHENOR, 

JOHN BAULDWIN, £ 

JOHN BAULDWIN, JUN., JOSEPH RIGGS, 

JONATHAN TOMPKINS, STEPHEN BOND. 

The names thus brought from the Connecticut 
coast to the banks of the Passaic have since ra- 
diated in all directions over this portion of New 
Jersey ; while the church in Newark, whose roll 
they first constituted, and in which many of them 
are yet found, is still " li^e a tree planted by the 
rivers of water." Its leaf has not withered by an 
age of nearly two hundred years. 

We have seen that, by the Concessions, all lands 
were to be purchased of the Indians by the Gov- 
ernor and Council in the name of the proprietors, 
while every person settling was to pay his propor- 
tion of the purchase money and charges. By this 
rule the colonists expected to find Indian claims 
pacified, and the way clear for the undisturbed 
occupancy of such lands as they needed. But 
when the Milford company arrived and commenced 
landing their goods, a party of the Hackinsacks 
appeared, who warned them off, saying the lands 



PURCHASE OF LANDS. 23 

were not yet purchased. This unexpected an- 
nouncement came near defeating the enterprise. 
For " on the subject of real estate in the New 
World, the Puritans differed from the lawyers 
widely ; asserting that the heathen, as a part of 
the lineal descendants of Noah, had a rightful 
claim to their lands.' 1 * And so, putting their 
goods back upon the vessel, they were about to 
return. The governor, however, dissuaded them 
from this, and as the Indians were not unwilling 
to sell their lands, resort was had to negotiation. 
The agents on the part of the town were Kobert 
Treat and Samuel Edsal ; on the part of the In- 
dians, the chief negotiator was Perro, a Sagamore, 
acting with the advice and consent of an aged 
Sagamore, not then able to travel, whose name was 
Oraton. John Cap teen, a Dutchman, assisted the 
negotiations as interpreter. This was in 1666. 
The bill of sale was not made out till July 11, 
1667. This was signed by Obadiah Bruen, Michael 
Tompkins, Samuel Kitchell, John Brown, and Ko- 
bert Denison, on the part of the town ; and by 
Wapamuck, Harish, Captamin, Sessom, Mamus- 
tome, Peter, Wamesane, Wekaprokikan, Cacnack- 
que and Perawae, on the part of the Indians.f 

* Bancroft, Vol. II., 319. 

f Stearns' Hist., p. 11. Was Perro, (whose name is variously- 
spelled in the old manuscripts as Perro, Parow, Parrow, &a,) the 
same person with Perawae ? 



24 SECOND PURCHASE. 

The purchase extended to the foot of the great 
mountain called Watchung." The price paid was 
" fifty double hands of powder, one hundred bars 
of lead, twenty coats, ten guns, twenty pistols, ten 
kettles, ten swords, four blankets, four barrels of 
beer, ten pair of breeches, fifty knives, twenty 
hoes, eight hundred and fifty fathom of wampum, 
twenty ankers of liquors, or something equivalent, 
and three troopers' coats." A second purchase, 
March 13, 1677- v , extended the limits to the top 
of the mountain, for " two guns, three coats, and 
thirteen cans of rum."* 

The second purchase was from " Winacksop and 
ShenacJctos, Indians, the owners of the great moun- 
tain Watchung." The reader who knows the pres- 
ent worth of those mountain lands, would scarcely 
imagine that the whole broad slope which men of 
capital and taste are now so eager to purchase and 

* It may interest the reader to find a fragment of the language 
spoken by these primitive masters of the soil. The following- 
numerals are remembered by Aaron Burr Harrison, as communi- 
cated to him by his great uncle, Samuel Harrison, who was born 
in the year 1719, and lived to his 92d year. We can fancy how 
often they were repeated during the negotiations above described. 
"We discover in them the decimal system. 

1. een. 6. latter. 11. een dick. 16. een bumsack. 

2. teen. 7. satter. 12. teen dick. 17. teen bumsack. 

3. tether. 8. po. 13. tether dick. 18. tether bumsack. 

4. fether. 9. debbety. 14. fether dick. 19. fether bumsack. 

5. fimp. 10. dick. 15. bumsack. 20. enock. 



CASTING LOTS. 25 

occupy, was once valued at " two guns, three coats, 
and thirteen cans of rum." 

The territory thus acquired, by a moral right 
from the natives, and by a legal right from the Pro- 
prietors, embraced the present townships of New- 
ark, Orange, Bloomfielcl, Belleville and Clinton. 

In the division of the lands, each settler received 
a "home lot " in the town laid out on the river, for 
which lots were drawn ; the Jersey Canaan being 
assorted in strict conformity with Hebrew prece- 
dents — ever the Puritanic model. There were, 
also, first, second and third divisions of the 
" upland," with an equitable distribution of the 
" bogged meadow," an indispensable accessory. 

The settlement on the river began very soon to 
spread itself in this direction. The inviting plain 
between the Passaic and the mountain could not 
long remain an uncultivated woodland, with a race 
of hardy yeomanry growing up on its border. We 
give such names as we have been able to gather of 
those who first located or had lands surveyed to 
them in this part of the wilderness. 

Robert Lymon, by warrant of Aug. 19, 1675, had 
11 part of his third division on the mountain " — 44 
acres — bounded north-west by the mountain, north- 
east by John Baldwin, Sen., south-east by Capt. 
Samuel Swaine, south-west by Bichard Harrison. 

August 28, 1675. Samuel Swaine had 40 acres 
at the foot of the mountain, with John Baldwin, 



26 ORANGE SETTLERS. 

Sen., on the north, Eobert Lymon and Kichard 
Harrison on the west, Eichard Harrison on the east, 
the common on the south. 

Sept. 10, 1675. John Baldwin, Sen., had for bis 
third division, near the mountain, 40 acres, with 
Capt. Samuel Swaine and John Catlin north, Ser- 
geant Eichard Harrison east, John Ward (distin- 
guished as John Ward, turner,) south, the top of 
the mountain west. John Catlin had 60 acres, ex- 
tending to the top of the mountain. Eichard Har- 
rison had fifty acres, with the widow Freeman 
south, and also 15 acres "upon the branch of Eah- 
way river," bounded west ,by John Catlin and 
John Baldwin, Sen., east by a small brook running 
from the mountain, north and south by the com- 
mon. 

June 9, 1679. Thomas Johnson had a tract by 
the foot of the mountain, 50 by 13 chains, bounded 
north by John Ward, Jun., south by Mr. John 
Ward, Sen., east by the plain, west by the top of 
the hill. Said tract to remain for 50 acres, allow- 
ance being made for bad land. 

John Ward, Sen., had 50 acres, with Thomas 
Johnson north, the plain east, John Catlin south, 
the hill west. 

Anthony Oliff (or Olive) had 50 acres, with Sam- 
uel Harrison south, the mountain west, unsurveyed 
lands on the north and east. This farm included 
on its northern border the street now known as 



ORANGE SETTLERS. 27 

Willi amsville. It appears, from the town-book, 
that the owner at first took possession of more 
land than the agreements allowed, confessed his 
fault, submitted the land to the town's disposal, 
and by his request was admitted a planter in 1678. 
He married the widow of George Day, — the orig- 
inal of that name in Newark and Orange — and 
died, without children, March 16, 1723, aged 87 
years. His grave has the oldest headstone in the 
old burial-ground. The owner of the farm after 
his death was Peleg Shores, who, on the 23d of 
April, 1723, conveyed the eastern and southern 
portions of it (one equal half) to Jonathan Linds- 
ley, the deed being witnessed by {Rev) Daniel Tay- 
lor and Matthew Williams. In 1726, the same was 
sold to David Williams, who, in 1730, purchased 
also the other half. 

June 13, 1679. Fifty-nine acres of upland were 
laid out for Joseph Harrison, bounded on the north- 
east by Benjamin Harrison, and on the north-west 
by "Perroth's brook." 

If any of these farms were at this time under 
improvement, they were scarcely occupied as 
homesteads ; for it was not till Dec. 12, 1681, that 
surveyors were chosen, of whom Richard Harrison 
was one, " to lay out highways as far as the moun- 
tain, if need be, and to lay out the third division 
to all who have a desire to have it laid out, and 
passages to all lands." 



28 ORANGE SETTLERS. 

In March, 1685, Paul, George and Samuel Day, 
heirs of George Day, had surveyed to them by W. 
Camp, survej^or, sixty acres, bounded with the 
mountain west, Matthew Williams south, Wigwam 
brook east, and the common north ; Matthew "Wil- 
liams having been admitted a planter, with others. 
in 1680, " provided they pay the purchase for 
their lands, as others have done." In January, 
1688-9, Greorge exchanged lands with Matthew, 
the latter parting with a dwelling-house, shop, or- 
chard, and other edifices and lands near Newark, 
and receiving two tracts at the mountain, one 
bounded east with Wigwam brook, and the other 
(swamp land) with Parow's brook. The place to 
which he seems to have removed his residence 
about that time has since taken the name of Wil- 
liamsville, from his descendants. 

By the will of Joseph Riggs, 1688, land at the 
mountain was given to his sons, Samuel and Zo~ 
jphar. The latter is supposed to have been the 
father of Joseph, who died 1744, aged 69. It em- 
braced probably the farm a little west of South 
Orange, on which an. old stone house yet remains, 
in which Elder Joseph Riggs was born, in 1720. 

By warrant of April 27, 1694, there was laid 
out for John Gardner, in right of Abraham Pier- 
son, a tract at the foot of the mountain, having 
Azariah Crane on the north-east, Jasper Crane on 
the south-west. 



CRANETOWN. 29 

Azariah Crane, brother of Sergeant Jasper, and 
son-in-law of Capt. Robert Treat, was a deacon of 
the Newark Church. His sons, Azariah and Na- 
thaniel (father of William and Noah), settled 
Cranetown, now West Bloomfield. At a town 
meeting, held January 1, 1697-8, it was " voted 
that Thomas Hayse, Joseph Harrison, Jasper 
Crane and Matthew Canfield shall view whether 
Azariah Crane may have land for a tan-yard at the 
front of John Plum's home lot, out of the common ; 
and in case the men above-mentioned agree that 
Azariah Crane shall have the land, then he, the 
said Azariah Crane shall enjoy it so long as he 
doth follow the trade of tanning." As we learn 
from the Town Book that, in 1715, he and Ed- 
ward Ball had been settled near the mountain 
many years, we conjecture that the decision of the 
examiners in the matter of the tan-yard was against 
the applicant, and that it gave to Cranetown one 
of its first inhabitants, if it did not give to the 
Mountain Society one of its first deacons. Deacon 
Crane was by this time an old man. Whether his 
relations were ever transferred to the new Society, 
may admit of a doubt. 

Nathaniel Wheeler obtained a warrant, April 10, 
1696, for 100 acres at the mountain, which were 
surveyed in three tracts : one north of the high- 
way, with John Johnson north, Thomas John- 
son and Mr. Ward's lots west ; one south of the 



30 ORANGE SETTLERS. 

mountain-path, with Robert Dalglesh cast, Jasper 
Crane south, Harrison's lot west ; the third on the 
upper Chestnut hill, by the stone -house brook, 
bounded south by said brook, west by Samuel 
Freeman and unsurveyed land, north by Thomas 
Lnddington ; these several tracts to lie for 100 
acres, because there was much barren in them. 
He was a son of Thomas Wheeler, of Milford, 
where he was married, June 21, 1665, to Esther, 
daughter of Henry Bochford. With his young 
wife, he came to Newark with the first company, 
signed the agreement with the Branford Company, 
came to the mountain, and lived just long enough 
to see the Mountain Society organized, and to con- 
vey to it "a parcel of ground for a burying-place," 
where he was one of the first to be interred. He 
died, Oct. 4, 1726, in his 87th year; his wife, 
March 14, 1732, at the same age. 

Samuel Pierson, who was probably one of the 
first deacons of the church here, was born in Bran- 
ford, in 1664, a son of Thomas Pierson, senior, so 
called to distinguish him from a son of Rev. Abra- 
ham Pierson, His mother was Mary, daughter of 
Richard Harrison, Sen., of Branford. Coming to 
Newark, he married Mary Harrison, daughter of 
his uncle Richard, and sister of Joseph, Daniel, 
Samuel, Benjamin, George, and John Harrison, 
and settled probably in South Orange, where his 
descendants lived. He was by trade a carpenter. 



ORANGE SETTLERS. 31 

His children were Joseph, Samuel, James, Daniel, 
Caleb, Jemima, Mary, Hannah. In the line of 
Joseph were Deacons Bethuel and Joseph Pierson, 
of the next two generations. He (Samuel) was 
buried in the old church-yard of Orange, March, 
1730, with an honorable memorial. 

Samuel Harrison, one of the sons of Richard 
just mentioned, owned land at the mountain, but 
never resided on it. His wife was Mary, daughter 
of John Ward, Sen., and sister of Dorcas, his 
brother Joseph's wife. By his will, dated Jan. 7, 
1712-13, he gave fifty acres to his son Samuel, 
bounded by Anthony Olive on the north, widow 
Abigail Ward on the south, a highway east, and 
the mountain west. The farm was improved by 
the son, whose descendants are now numerous in 
the township. He had another son, John, who is 
said to have settled in Bloomfield, and five daugh- 
ters, of whom Eleanor, the youngest, wife of Eben- 
ezer Lindsley, lived to the age of 100 years and 
two months. She was born about 1696. 

The Lindskys, of Orange, are descended from 
Francis, one of the Newark settlers. In the old 
colony records of New Haven, the names of Fran- 
cis and John Linsley, brothers, appear as early as 
1614. The births of Deborah and Ruth, daugh- 
ters of Francis, are on record in Branford. His 
sons, Benjamin, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Ebenezer, 
(and probably a Daniel,) were born in Newark. 



32 ORANGE SETTLERS. 

Through Ebenezer, Benjamin, and John, we trace 
the line down to John M. Lindsley, the oldest liv- 
ing representative of the name in this locality. 
Ebenezer died in Orange in 1743, at the age of 78. 
Joseph, at Whippany, 1753, aged 77. John, (or 
one of that name, in whose will a brother Daniel 
is mentioned,) at Morristown, 1749, aged 82. Fran- 
cis, the ancestor, was living in Newark in 1704, 
when he must have been more than 80 years old. 
His grave is not found, and the writer is informed 
by Samuel H. Congar, that not one of the name 
has a headstone in the old burying-ground of 
Newark. 

From Edward Ball have descended the Balls 
of South Orange, in the line of his son Thomas 
and grandson Aaron. From Caleb, another son, 
have sprung the Balls of Hanover. Those of 
East Bloomfleld are from Joseph, another son. A 
daughter, Lydia, married Joseph Peck, ancestor of 
the Pecks of Orange. There were two other chil- 
dren, — Abigail, wife of Daniel Harrison, and Moses, 
who had no children. 

Of the two Canfields, (or Camfields,) who were 
among the original settlers, Matthew died about 
1673, and Ebenezer in 1694. From the latter, 
through his son Joseph, and his grandson Eben- 
ezer, who was buried in Orange at the age 73, have 
descended the Canfields who are now with us. 

We find on a headstone in Orange, the name of 



ORANGE SETTLERS. 33 

" the very pious and godly Mr. Job Brown, one of 
the pillars of the church of Christ in this place," 
who was born in 1710. The man whose pious 
worth is thus honorably commemorated, was a 
great-grandson of one of the first settlers. Though 
he left children and grandchildren, the name (though 
not likely to become extinct in the world) has dis- 
appeared from our church list. His ancestor, John 
Browne, had a daughter Hannah, who married 
Joseph Eiggs, and Elizabeth, who married Samuel 
Freeman. Both these names belong to our history, 
but we are unable to connect the latter with any of 
the lines that we have traced backward among the 
Freemans of a later day. He was doubtless an 
ancestor of Deacon Samuel Freeman, who was 
another " pillar of the church of Christ," contem- 
porary with " the very pious and godly Mr. Job 
Brown." 

The Dodds, now a numerous race, are descend- 
ants of " Daniel Dod," (from England,) who died 
in Branford in 1661-5. He and his wife Mary 
having deceased before the emigration to New 
Jersey took place, and their sons being all minors, 
the name does not appear among the subscribers 
to the fundamental agreement. Of their children — 
four sons and two daughters — Mary was the wife 
of Aaron Blachthly (or Blatchly) ; Daniel had a 
home lot assigned him in Newark, and a farm on 
the hill west of the town ; Ebenezer was admitted 



34 DODDTOWN. 

a planter (on subscribing the agreement) in 1674, 
and Samuel in 1679 ; Stephen settled in Guilford, 
Conn. 

" In March, 1678, Daniel Dod and Edward Ball 
were appointed to run the northern line of the 
town from Passaic river to the mountain. About 
this time Daniel Dod surveyed and had located to 
him a tract of land on and adjoining to Watsessing 
plain [now Bloomneld], and bounded on the west 
and south by unlocated lands. A considerable 
portion of this land is yet in the possession of his 
descendants. He was chosen a deputy to the Pro- 
vincial Assembly in 1692, being then 42 years of 
age."* On this land his sons Daniel 3 Stephen, 
and John, and his daughter Dorcas, settled, — John 
building on the site occupied by the late David 
Dodd (and now by Josiah F.) in Doddtown. In 
the numerous family of the third Daniel was our 
elder and deacon, Isaac Dodd, whose name will 
appear at a later period. 

Among the early accessions to the Newark col- 
ony were John and Deborah Cundit, or Condit. 
Their son Peter married Mary, daughter of Sam- 
uel Harrison, Sen., and was the father of Samuel, 
Peter, John, Nathaniel, Philip, Isaac and Mary. 
His place of residence is not known, but his son 
John was probably the John Cundit mentioned in 

* Eecords of Daniel Dod and his descendants, by Rev. Stephen 
Dodd. The original orthography was Dod. 



ORANGE SETTLERS. 35 

1739, in connection with John Ward, to whom the 
court gave license to keep public-houses at the 
mountain. The Cundit House, kept at a more re- 
cent period by Isaac A. Smith, is identified in 
locality with the " Orange Hotel," now kept by 
T. A. Eeeve. The name belongs to every period 
of our church and township. 

David Ogden came to Newark from Elizabeth- 
town about 1677. John Ogden — probably his son — 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Wheeler, 
and their children were Hannah, Phebe, Jemima, 
Thomas, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Isaac. 

Joseph Peck appears in 1699. In 1719 he was 
one of a commission, including Deacon Azariah 
Crane, Joseph and Moses Ball, Joseph Baldwin, 
and four others, appointed on the part of Newark 
to meet the commisioners of Ackquackonong for 
the purpose of renewing a boundary line. Joseph 
Peck, Jr., born 1702, became an elder and deacon 
of the Orange church. His son John, who held 
the same offices, was father of Mr. John Peck, one 
of the oldest living inhabitants of PeeJdown, (East 
Orange,) which has taken its name from the family. 

Besides these, among the first or second generation 
of settlers, we find the names Tichenor, Tompkins,* 

* Michael Tompkins is supposed by S. H. Congar to have been 
the man who concealed the regicide judges in Milford. viz. : Goffe, 
Whalley, and Dixwell, concerned in the condemnation of King 
Charles T. See the account in Stearns' Hist , p. 35. note. 



36 MEN OF MAEK. 

Kitchell, Lamson, Nutman, and others, now found 
in Orange. The Munns and Smiths have come in 
somewhat later. The Camps, of Camptown, lie 
within or near the ancient limits of our parish', but 
the name is not a frequent or prominent one upon 
any of its records that now exist. 

These men had little thought that a historic in- 
terest could ever attach to them. Eeared among 
the peasantry of England, or in the American 
wilderness before the schoolmaster was abroad, 
they had simply the knowledge that is unto salva- 
tion, and the ambition to live as members of a 
godly community. Some of them could not write 
their names. Thus, in signing the fundamental 
agreements, Thomas Lyon made his L mark, and 
John Brooks his B mark, and Eobert Lymens his 
V mark, and Francis Linle his F mark, and Eobert 
Denison his E marJc. Yet did these same illiterate 
men make their mark also upon the institutions of 
New Jersey, impressing upon them a character 
they were never to lose. And they were the stock 
whence others have sprung, who have adorned the 
highest stations. They brought with them the 
energy of the Anglo-Saxon, and the somewhat 
rigorous yet vigorous and stable religious princi- 
ples of the Puritan. Entering the forest with bold 
hearts, they placed the rude cabin by the side of 
the wigwam, and made the woods vocal at once 
with praise to God and with the sounds of civilized 



INDIANS PEACEABLE. 37 

industry. "While the institutions of Penn were 
spreading and taking form in the bordering prov- 
ince, and those of English Episcopacy in Vir- 
ginia ; while Eliot, " the morning star of missionary 
enterprise,"* was giving the Bible to the Mas- 
sachusetts Indians ; while the Pokanokets, under 
King Philip, were spreading terror through settle- 
ments around which they hung " like the lightning 
on the edge of the clouds ;"f while Cotton Mather, 
with a cruel zeal for the Lord, was exterminating 
witchcraft from his parish at Salem ; the Newark 
colonists, intermingling with the peaceful Hackin- 
sacks, whose rights they treated with justice and 
respect, were quietly engaged in felling the forest, 
breaking up the generous soil, building mills, dig- 
ging mines, exterminating the bear and the wolf; 
or, as often as the Sabbath came, assembling de- 
voutly at the beat of the drum in their rude but 
honored sanctuary. 

To the peaceable temper of the Indians we have 
this testimony from the Council of Proprietors at 
a later period : " We are well assured that, since 
the first settlement of New Jersey, there is not one 
instance can be assigned of any breach of peace 
with the Indians thereof (though very few of the 
other provinces can say so as to their Indians) ; 
nor that any proprietor ever presumed to dispos- 
sess one of them, or disturb him in his possession ; 
* Bancroft. + Washington Irving 

3 



38 BEARS AND WOLVES. 

but have always amicably paid them for their 
claims, from time to time, as they could agree with 
them ; nor was the Crown, nor the Legislature of 
the province of New Jersey, now for fourscore 
years past, since the settlement of this province, 
ever put to one penny of charge or expense for 
keeping the Indians thereof in peace, in bounties, 
presents, or otherwise ; which is well known to be 
far otherwise in other provinces, and may, and 
probably will soon be, otherwise here, if some late 
tamperings with the Indians thereof be neglected 
and passed over with impunity."* 

The bears and wolves, especially the latter, in 
the township of Newark, were more troublesome. 
From their ramparts in the mountains they would 
listen to no terms of negotiation. A peace with 
them had to be conquered by stratagem or prowess. 
And many a bounty, as tempting to the poor colo- 
nist as the excitement of the hunt, had to be 
offered. Kepeatedly, for a considerable period, we 
meet with such votes as the following, in the min- 
utes of the town meeting: "September 6, 1698. 
It is agreed upon by vote, for the encouragement 
of those that will kill wolves, that they shall have 
twenty shillings per head allowed them in a town 
rate for this year." Four years later, the bounty 
offered was twelve shillings. This for a full-grown 

* Publication of 25th March. 1T46 



BOUNTIES. c9 

wolf; for a bear cub, five shillings. But the beast 
must be caught and killed within the limits of the 
town to secure the bounty. Sergeant Eiggs, who 
had charge of a wolf-pit, seems to have directed 
his soldierly art and courage to this species of war- 
fare, as the mighty Nimrod did long before him. 
The wolf, being captured, was taken to a magis- 
trate, who took his ears to witness to the transac- 
tion, and gave to the captor, in return, a receipt that 
passed for the value of the specified bounty with 
the tax-collector. The town had one expedient 
for the relief of such as were out of purse, which 
Governor Carteret had not, perhaps, thought of, 
when he answered the objections originally made 
to the halfpenny quit-rent by saying : "As for the 
purchasers being out of purse, I cannot help them 
therein." 

A certain Scotchman, James Johnstone, writing 
to his friends at home, said the wolves " are nothing 
to be feared, neither are the country people afraid 
to be among them all night, insomuch that I oft- 
times going wrong, and lying out all night, and 
hearing their yells about me, and telling that I was 
afraid of them, the country people laughed at it."* 
The snakes were still less to be feared, "for 

e Quoted with references, by Stearns, p. t9. In 1682, a double 
bounty was offered for wolves, 15 shillings being paid by the 
county, and 15 by the town. " In 1695, these bounties were re- 
pealed, and it was left to the discretion of each town to adopt 



40 HOUSES. 

nothing can come near them but they give warn- 
ing with the rattling of their tails, so that people 
may either kill them or go by them, as they 
please." What influence these assurances had to 
bring over the water any of the "kith and kin" of 
the w r orthy Scot, we know not. There was a con- 
siderable infusion of Scotch into the Newark settle- 
ment before the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
The style of the Jersey houses of that day is 
thus described by Gawen Lawrie, writing to a 
friend in London : " A carpenter, with a man's 
own servants, builds a house. They have all ma- 
terials for nothing, except nails. The poorer sort 
set up a house of two or three rooms after this 
manner: The walls are of cloven timber, about 
eight or ten inches broad, like planks, set one end 
to the ground, and the other nailed to the raising, 
which they plaster within." At Amboy, where a 
great city was to be built, a beginning was made 
by Samuel Groome in the erection of three houses, 
in 1683, which were thus described by him : " The 
houses at Amboy are thirty feet long, and sixteen 
feet wide; ten feet between joint and joint ; a 
double chimney, made with timber and clay, as 

such measures as might be necessary to exterminate the wolves. 
General legislation, however, was again resorted to, in March, 
1*714, and the bounty was extended to panthers and red foxes." 
In 1730, that on foxes was withdrawn. In 1751, the bounty was 
11 sixty shillings for wolves, and ten shillings for whelps." Barber 
and Howe's Hist. Collect. (1844), p. 40. 



SELF-GOVERNMENT. 41 

the manner of the country is to build." Such edi- 
fices " will stand in about £50 a house."* These 
were doubtless a fair type of the homes of the 
wealthier class. 

The capacity of the Newark community for self- 
government was early tested. " Will you know," 
inquires Bancroft, " with how little government a 
community of husbandmen may be safe f For 
twelve years the whole province was not in a set- 
tled condition. From June, 1689, to August, 
1692, East Jersey had no government whatever." 
The maintenance of order, during this period, 
rested wholly with the local authorities and with 
the people themselves. A town meeting was ac- 
cordingly convened, March 25, 1689-90, to pro- 
vide for the exigency, Hamilton, the deputy-Gov- 
ernor, having left for Europe the preceding August. 
It was "Toted, that there shall be a committee 
chosen to order all affairs, in as prudent a way as 
they can, for the safety and preservation of our- 
selves, wives, children and estates, according to 
the capacity we are in." The committee consisted 
of Mr. Ward, Mr. Johnson, Azariah Crane, Wil- 
liam Camp, Edward Ball and John Brown, " with 
those in military capacity." It was well for the 
little commonwealth, in those times of disorder, 
that they were qualified, not only for "the carry - 

* Smith's New Jersey ; Stearns, p. 30. 



42 END OF PROPRIETARY RULE. 

ing on of spiritual concernments," but also for the 
regulation of u civil and town affairs, according to 
God and a godly government." It was not simply 
that they were a community of husbandmen, as inti- 
mated by the historian, that made them safe with- 
out the protection of provincial laws ; they had a 
higher law, a more imperative rule of action, writ- 
ten upon the heart. 

The breaking up of the Proprietary government 
took place during the war between England and 
Holland, when the Dutch took forcible possession 
of the province. On the return of peace, the Pro- 
prietors were reinstated with new powers. Pro- 
fessing still to adhere to the original Concessions, 
they published a " declaration of their true intent 
and meaning," which was really a declaration, in 
some essential points, of things not intended and 
meant. The people saw in it a breach of the Con- 
cessions, and a dangerous abridgment of their priv- 
ileges. And the seeds of discontent, thus rashly 
sown by the Proprietors, rapidly ripened to such 
power, that they were constrained, in 1702, to sur- 
render the reins of government to the British 
crown. Tyranny, acting in obedience to avarice, 
defeated its own end. Nor did the effect stop here. 
The wave set in motion by the popular reaction 
rolled on with accumulating force, and having first 
stripped the Proprietors of their governmental 
functions, broke down at last their gigantic and 



HOKSENECK PURCHASE. 43 

odious monopoly of the soil. This was, however, 
the work of three-quarters of a century. The last 
and effective sweep of quit-rents and proprietary 
exactions was made by the American revolution. 

About this time was made another extensive 
purchase of Indian lands. The tide of population, 
setting back from the coast, had reached the moun- 
tain. It was now to break over, and carry its 
freight of civilization still farther into the interior. 
Preliminary action was taken at a town meeting, 
Oct. 2, 1699. "It was agreed, by the generality 
of the town, that they would endeavor to make a 
purchase of a tract of land lying westward of our 
bounds to the south branch of Passaic river ; and 
such of the town as do contribute to the purchase 
of said land, shall have their proportion according 
to their contribution." Mr. Pierson and Ensign 
Johnson were chosen to go and treat with the Pro- 
prietors about obtaining a grant. Samuel Harri- 
son, George Harrison, Thomas Davis, Eobert 
Young, Daniel Dod, Nathaniel Ward and John 
Cooper w r ere a committee to consider and put for- 
ward the design. On the 3d of Sept., 1701, cer- 
tain " articles of agreement" touching the matter 
were adopted and subscribed by one hundred prin- 
cipal men of the town, and one woman, each sub- 
scriber designating the number of lots he would 
take. These were subsequently known as the 
"Articles of the First Committee." Mr. John 



44 ITS LEGALITY. 

Treat, Mr. Joseph Crane, Joseph Harrison, George 
Harrison, Eliphalet Johnson, John Morris and 
John Cooper, were now appointed, with full power 
to "treat, bargain and agree with such Indians as 
they find to be the right owners thereof by their 
diligent enquiry" — the major part of the commit- 
tee to have full power to act.* It is a circumstance 
not easily explained, that we find in these articles 
no reference to the Proprietors, while the fourth 
article declares that "the said land, purchased and 
paid for by us, shall be held and continued as our 
just rights, either in general or particular allot- 
ments, as the major part shall agree from time to 
time." As, however, an act of the General Assem- 
bly of the ]3rovince, passed in 1683, was still in 
force, forbidding the taking of any deed from the 
Indians, except in the Proprietors' name ; and as the 
inhabitants of Newark, down to the date of this new 
purchase, had maintained an unimpeachable loy- 
alty to the Provincial government ; especially, as 
they had but two 3*ears before sent a committee to 
the Proprietors to obtain a grant of this very tract ; 
the presumption is, that they obtained the grant, 
and that this important accession to their territory 

s;; - The tract was secured for £130, and a deed obtained of the 
Indians. This important deed was destroyed by fire, March 7, 
1744-5, in the burning of Jonathan Pierson's house. It was 
promptly renewed within a week, so far as it could be, by another 
conveyance, to which Daniel Taylor was a witness, signed by the 
descendants of the sagamores who had signed the first. 



ITS LEGALITY. 45 

was made in a way that satisfied at once the rights 
of the natives and the claims of authority.* The 
bonds of loyalty had not yet snapped under the 
strain of oppression. It needed the administration 
of a Cornbury, and the attempt to subject the Puri- 
tans of New Jersey to an ecclesiastical establish- 
ment from which their fathers had fled, to give 
vitality to those seeds of discontent which had 
already been planted, and which were to ripen 
with the growth of another generation. 

* Yet the account given of this period by the Council of Pro- 
prietors, in 1747, bears certainly against that presumption. It 
runs thus : " In 1688, the then king, James, broke through the 
rules of property, by seizing the government of New Jersey, and 
things continued in disorder and confusion till some time after the 
glorious revolution in England, that the Proprietors' government 
was restored ; from which time, peace and tranquillity remained 
until 1698. Erom that time till 1703, all rules of property were 
slighted ; many riots, and much disorder and confusion ensued* 
In 1701, during that time, it's said that Horseneck purchase and 
Vangeesen's purchase were made, and possibly the others that they, 
the Committee, say they have concern in and for. And then was 
a grand effort made, by the Remonstrance and Petition before- 
mentioned, to King William, to overset all the rules of property 
in New Jersey, and to establish Indian purchases ; but in this 
they failed, and kept their purchases secret. And to prevent the 
like disorder, confusion and attempts for the future, the Act of 
1103 was made, and peace and tranquillity restored ; which New 
Jersey ever since happily enjoyed, to the great improvement 
thereof; till 1745, that the worthy Committee, as is supposed, 
formed great plans and estates for themselves in their own minds, 
by setting up Indian purchases again." — Appendix to Bill in Chan- 
cery, p. 37. 

3* 



CHAPTER II. 

THE MOUNTAIN SOCIETY. 

FIFTY years have passed. The venerable Pier- 
son, leader of the Branford flock, has long rested 
from his labors. His son and successor, more dis- 
tinguished as the first president of the Connecticut 
college, to which he was removed from his Newark 
charge, has also finished his course. The pioneers 
in the settlement on the Passaic sleep in silence 
within sound of its waters. A generation has 
passed away. Five pastors have closed their min- 
istry in Newark. The aspects of the congregation, 
and its relations and circumstances, have consider- 
ably changed. It adheres to its early faith, but it 
has felt the force of surrounding influences upon 
its ecclesiastical usages and forms. New Jersey, 
except as held by the Quakers, is in the main Pres- 
byterian ground, and the Newark church, yielding 
to the influences of its position, and having received 
a considerable infusion of Presbyterian elements 
from abroad, has received its sixth pastor, Rev. 
Joseph 'Webb, from "the hands of the Presbytery." 
The statement of Dr. McWhorter, quoted by Dr. 



CHANGES IN NEWARK. 47 

Hodge,* that Newark was settled by English Pres- 
byterians, and had elders from the beginning, ac- 
cording to his best information and belief, is dis- 
proved by well-established facts. At the same time 
we must agree with Dr. Hodge, that on the soil of 
New Jersey at large Presbyterianism has not in- 
vaded and supplanted Congregationalism. It was 
the earlier and predominant tj^pe of ecclesiastical 
order, and naturally absorbed and assimilated the 
Congregationalism that came in. This assimilation 
was not, however, without a struggle between the two 
systems, and in a community like that of Newark, 
originally composed of Congregationalists only, the 
process of change was necessarily slow. When the 
second Pierson manifested some leanings toward 
the Presbyterian order, the displeasure of his peo- 
ple was excited, and troubles arose which resulted 
in his dismissal. Yet on the 22d of October, 1719, 
Joseph Webb ; in the line of his successors, was or- 
dained and settled over the same flock by the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia, and the next year took a 
seat in the Synod with a ruling elder from his 
church. 

Did that event precipitate an Independent or- 
ganization at the mountain? A comparison of 
dates will make the supposition appear at least 
probable. 
, The records of the Newark Church, and those of 

* Hist. Pres. Church, part I., p. 108. 



48 CHURCH AT THE MOUNTAIN. 

this church also (it is said), perished or were lost in 
the time of the Ee volution. But in a parcel of old 
deeds and other papers preserved by the Trustees 
of this church, is a deed of twenty acres of land 
sold by Thomas Gardner to " Samuel Freeman, 
Samuel Peirson, Matthew Williams, and Samuel 
Wheeler, and the Society at the Mountain associated 
with them," which bears date, January 13, 1719. 
As the year then began on the 25th of March, 
January followed October in the calendar. The 
deed was therefore given about three months after 
Mr. Webb's ordination and settlement in Newark. 
This coincidence, taken in connection with the 
previous history of the old Society, and with the 
well-established fact of the Congregational form of 
this Church till after the death of its first minister, 
affords presumptive evidence of the opinion ex- 
pressed above, that the change which took place in 
Newark stimulated the new movement here. 

In 1720, ground was purchased of Samuel 
Wheeler on which to erect a house of worship. 
This again favors the supposition of a recent or- 
ganization. Dr. Stearns places the event "in or 
about the year 1718."* A congregation was doubt- 
less collected here by that time. Yet it seems 
scarcely probable that the Church had existed two 
years before steps were taken to build a sanctuary. 
With such light as the subject obtains from the 

° On the authority of Dr. McWhorter. 



PAKSONAGE LAND. 49 

facts above given, we, incline to the opinion that 
the Society took organic form sometime during the 
year 1719. 

Among the inducements held out to the settlers 
by the Proprietors of East Jersey, was the offer of 
two hundred acres of land for the support of public 
worship in each parish. A warrant for the survey 
of 200 acres and meadow for a parsonage was 
granted to the Newark settlers October 23, 1676. 
The actual survey, however, does not appear to 
have been made till twenty years later, April 10, 
1696, when, besides the two hundred thus appro- 
priated, three acres were assigned for a burial-place, 
three for a market-place, and six for a training- 
place, the last being on the present site of the First 
Park in Newark. We shall have occasion hereafter 
to notice the contentions to which these parsonage 
lands gave rise, and the measures adopted from 
time to time to protect them from plunder. How 
soon the Mountain Society set up its claim to a 
portion of them we do not know. Such a claim 
was very likely to have been among the first 
thoughts of the new congregation. 

However this may be, the mountaineers were not 
indifferent to their supposed duty of making per- 
manent provision for the ministry. Their first act 
as an ecclesiastical body, of which we have any 
knowdedge, was the buying of land for the minis- 
ter's use. They were manifestly unwilling to leave 



50 THE GARDNER PURCHASE. 

so important a matter to any issues connected with 
their rights in the property of the Old Society. 

The land purchased of Thomas Gardner in 1719, 
being " the sixth year of the reign of our sover- 
eign Lord, George, by the grace of God, of Great 
Britain, France and Ireland King, defender of the 
faith," &c, the deed informs ns was sold " for divers 
good causes and considerations, me thereunto mov- 
ing, but more especially for and in consideration of 
the sum of £25 current money of New York." 
It was " to be and remain for the use and benefit 
of a dissenting* ministry, such as shall be called 
to that work by the grantees before-named, and 
their associates from time to time." It is described 
as " scituate, lying and being in the bounds and 
limits of Newark aforesaid, on the east side of a 

* So called by English usage till the colonies became independ- 
ent. The Puritans in America were in no just sense dissenters. 
They secured here that " freedom to worship God " for which they 
left the fatherland. In New Jersey, religious liberty was explicitly 
guaranteed by the Proprietors. When the latter, in 1702, surren- 
ered their civil jurisdiction to the crown, an attempt was made 
by Lord Cornbury, the governor, to subject the people to the forms 
of the Church of England. " The Prayer Book was ordered to be 
read, the sacraments to be administered only by persons episco- 
pally ordained ; and all ministers, without ordination of that sort, 
were required to report themselves to the Bishop of London. A 
bill for the maintenance of the Church in the Jerseys was defeated 
solely through the unflinching perseverance of a Baptist and a 
Quaker— Richard Hartshorne and Andrew Browne." Webster's 
Hist. Pres. Church., p. 88. 



FIRST MEETING-HOUSE. 51 

brook commonly called and known by the name of 
Parow's Brook.* Beginning at said brook near a 
bridge by the road that leads to the mountain , 
thence running easterly as the road runs, so far as 
that a south-westerly line cross the said lot (it being 
twelve chains in breadth) shall include twenty acres 
of land, English measure : bounded southerly with 
Joseph Harrison, westerly with said Parow's Brook, 
northerly with said mountain road, and easterly 
with my own land." This locates it east of the 
Willow Hall Market, south of, and including, the 
present park. 

A meeting-house was the next demand. This 
was the central object of interest in every commu- 
nity of the Puritans. f If no D wight had ever 
composed for their use the precious hymn — 

" I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
The house of thine abode," 

they were quite familiar with the inspired original 

* Named from Perro, one of the Indians who negotiated in the 
sale of the lands. See Eobert Treat's testimony, Bill in Chancery, 
p. 118. 

f A joint letter sent in 1684 to the Proprietors in Scotland, by 
David Barclay, Arthur Forbes, and Gawen Laurie, says: "The 
people being mostly New England men, do mostly incline to their 
way ; and in every town there is a meeting-house, where they worship 
publicly every week. They have no public law in the country for 
maintaining public teachers, but the towns that have them make 
way within themselves to maintain them." Stearns, p. 78. 



52 THE BUILDERS. 

from which its touching sentiments were drawn. 
" If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand 
forget her cunning" — were words that echoed the 
warmest feelings of many a settler's bosom. 

If the reader has ever worshipped in any of the 
primitive sanctuaries of the far West or South, he 
will have no difficulty in limning for himself a 
pretty correct portrait of the rude and lowly edi- 
fice. The site selected for it was on the highway 
leading to the mountain, a few rods east from where 
the First Church now stands. Time has not spared 
for us the name of the architect and the particulars 
of the contract, as it has of the sanctuaries since 
built on nearly the same spot. 

The town records of Newark, though occupied 
much with ecclesiastical matters, have nothing to 
say of the Mountain Society. They are indeed 
silent upon the building of the second house of 
worship in Newark, which is supposed to have 
been erected between April, 1714, and August, 1716, 
where a vacancy in the records occurs. Had we 
the details of that work, which took place just 
before the Society here was formed, we might 
obtain some probable clew to the men engaged 
upon the building here. 

The mountain congregation, however, were not 
entirety dependent upon the Bezaleels and Hirams 
of the old Society. 

Samuel Pierson was a carpenter, and his sons 



HANDS THAT HELPED. 53 

Joseph, Samuel, James, Daniel, and Caleb,— all of 
them now arrived at manhood, for the father was 
fifty-six years old — must have had some knowl- 
edge of the trade. He was a good man, who had 
a care for the spiritual, as well as for the material 
edifice, as appears from the testimonial placed upon 
his headstone ten years afterward. We surmise 
that the holy structure went up under his superin- 
tendence, though the use of the broad-axe, the 
saw, and the auger, may have been left to younger 
hands. Doubtless there were others of the craft 
connected with the work. Many a right hand lent 
its cunning. And many a rough hand, accustomed 
more to the labors of forest and field than to those of 
the carpenter's bench, lent to the enterprise its manly 
strength. Samuel Harrison's saw-mill, which did 
good service for the parsonage twenty-eight years 
later, was not yet in operation, and planing-mills, 
sash-and-blind factories and the like, were institu- 
tions still more distant in the future. But our men 
of the wilderness were men trained to expedients. 
The want and the will brought the ways and the 
means. One by one, the straight shafts of the 
forest fell before the axe and were fitted to their 
places. From week to week the progress of the 
'meeting -house was a principal topic of conversation, 
and when at last, on a little knoll in the midst of 
the travelled road, which on either side retired like 
the parting Jordan making way for the Ark, the 



54 HOLY JOYS. 

completed sanctuary was seen, we can imagine with 
what care every domestic duty and labor of the 
field were so arranged that the future worshippers 
might join in the act of its solemn dedication to 
the worship of God. 

"We have not the programme of that solemnly 
glad occasion. Who offered the prayer, who 
preached the sermon, who read the psalm, who led 
the congregation in their hearty song of thanks- 
giving, were then matters of interest; but they 
have ceased to be matters even of traditional re- 
membrance. A " beam out of the timber " yet 
remains of the ancient edifice, but it is silent when 
questioned relative to the persons and scenes of 
that distant day.* It is probable that Mr. "Webb, 
of the old Society, was among the ministers pres- 
ent ; for tender ties yet existed between him and 
the separating portion of his flock ; while eccle- 
siastical ties may have brought from Connecti- 
cut or Long Island some prominent Independent 
minister to take the leading part of the service.f 

* This relic of the first meeting-house is in the frame of Mr. 
Charles Harrison's barn, in Valley street. It is a heavy cross- 
beam, of white oak, worked down a little from its original size, 
and having a line of mortises for studs. The post that supports it 
at the east end was also a post in the old meeting-house. The 
barn, or that part of it, was built by Samuel Harrison. The beam 
has answered one inquiry of the writer, viz. : that the meeting- 
house was framed, not a log house. 

f According to a letter written March. 1729, by Rev. Jedediah 



THE CONGREGATION. 55 

This supposition is the more likely, if Daniel Tay- 
lor was at this time pastor, of which there is room 
for doubt. 

It is more easy to guess who were some of those 
who occupied the pews. There was seen, if not 
too infirm to attend, the hoary head of Anthony 
OlhT, probably the oldest man in the society, a 
patriarch in jrears though not a father. We have 
in our thoughts a figure of the eccentric old man, 
now about fourscore and five years old, and per- 
mitted to sit a few times in the new meeting-house 
before he was " in the church-yard laid." There 
was Nathaniel Wheeler, who had also numbered 
his fourscore years ; Matthew Williams, aged about 
seventy ; and probably Azariah Crane, a veteran 
of seventy-four. Around these aged men were 
others somewhat younger, in the midst of family 
groups that shared the joys and hopes inspired by 
the occasion. Arranged in their square pews, the 
more aged sat with their faces pulpitward, their 
eyes reverently fixed upon the preacher. The 
smaller ones were seated opposite, while on the 
right and left were youths and maidens in a side- 
wise position, suggestive of a state of mind that 
lent one ear to the sermon and another to whatever 
was passing in the rear of the house. High up in 

Andrews, of Philadelphia, referred to by Richard Webster, (p. 583,) 
this was the only church in the Province at that date which did 
not conform to the Presbyterian mode. 



56 STYLE OF WORSHIP. 

a little pulpit, with sounding-board above ; sat the 
minister of the day. And in his place, a person- 
age not to be overlooked, stood the precentor, to 
line out the psalrn which the minister had read, and 
lead the congregation in the solemn service of song. 
Some recollections of the meeting-house arrange- 
ments, and the style of worship pertaining to that 
remote period, yet remain in the minds of elderly 
people. Time has since brought with it many 
modifications in matters not affecting the spirit and 
benefit of religious worship.* 

The old Society in Newark had built its first 
meeting-house amid the alarms created by Indian 
atrocities in New England, where Philip's war was 
at that time raging. The men who had worked 
upon it hkd their arms ever at hand, and the walls 
of the house, ''filled up with thin stone and mor- 
tar as high as the girts," were for walls of protec- 
tion in case of an attack. But those days of terror 

* We are not sure but one change has affected the spirit and 
true effect of public worship. While the introduction of hymn 
books has obviated the necessity of reading the hymn by couplets ? 
the introduction of choirs has almost set aside the hymn book, or 
its appropriate tise by the congregation. There are exceptions to 
the statement, which are happily increasing in number. In some 
parts of our country the precentor yet exercises his primitive func- 
tions. The writer, while laboring in one of the Southern States, 
where he preached occasionally to a number of Scotch congrega- 
tions, has often, after reading the psalm, handed the book to the 
chorister, to be read again by him as the lines were sung. 



MIXTURE OF RACES. 57 

were now past. Fifty years of peaceful intercourse 
with the natives had produced a general feeling of 
security. It was no longer necessary to worship in 
forts, or to erect flankers at the church corners for 
the shelter of armed sentinels. Indeed, the gospel 
had by this time penetrated the darkness of the 
aboriginal mind, and in the same Christian assem- 
bly might have been seen the white man with his 
African servant and his Indian neighbor. Amid 
this mixture of races the foundations of our Zion 
were laid. Just about a hundred years later, (Feb- 
ruary 24, 1820,) New Jersey passed her emancipa- 
tion act, and now African and Indian have together 
receded before the resistless intelligence of a supe- 
rior race. 



CHAPTEE III. 
KEY. DANIEL TAYLOR. 

IT may be presumed that the year 1721 found 
the Mountain Society in circumstances to invite 
to their pulpit a pastor, if this step had not been 
already taken. There is a tradition in the parish, 
that before the settlement of Daniel Taylor, the 
Society had a minister, who was drowned, together 
with his son, in crossing the Connecticut river at 
Say brook, on a visit to his friends. This tragic in- 
cident, however, belongs to the history of Eev. 
Joseph Webb,* of the Newark church. It is quite 
likely that before the congregation had obtained a 

* The Boston Gazette and Weekly Journal of Oct. 27, 1741. 
contained the following : " We have an account that, on Tuesday 
last, the Seabrook ferry-boat overset, wherein were the Rev. Joseph 
Webb, of New Haven, and his son, a young woman, and several 
others. The two former were drowned ; the others with great 
difficulty got safe to shore." (See the New England Historical 
and Genealogical Register and Antiquarian Journal, January, 
1856.) Mr. Webb had been about five years dismissed from his 
Newark charge. 



HIS NATIVITY. 59 

minister, Mr. Webb bad occasional appointments 
here. Tbe people were a part of the flock to 
which bis predecessors bad ministered. It it also 
likely tbat during tbe four years of bis residence 
in Newark, after bis dismission from tbat cbarge 
in 1736, wben be continued still to preacb in tbe 
neigbborbood, this part of the town received his 
occasional labors. He, however, could not have 
been Mr. Taylor's predecessor here, and the fatal 
casualty at Saybrook ferry did not occur till 1741, 
when tbe latter is known to have been in the field 
eighteen years. 

According to the inscription on his tombstone, 
Mr. Taylor was born about the year 1691,* and 
was in bis sixteenth year when be graduated at tbe 
high school, or college, at Killingworth, the embryo 
Yale. It was not uncommon at tbat period for 
boys to be put through tbe required course of 
Greek and Latin at sixteen years. 

Inquiries respecting bis nativity have been fruit- 
less. We have sought for it among the Taylors 
of Deerfield, Mass., and among those of Norwalk 
and Danbury, Conn. It appears, from tbe town 
records of Smithtown, Long Island, that he resided 
there four years, ending with IT 17, and that Eicb- 
ard Smith and his four brothers, on the 13th day 

* Not 1684, as given by Thompson ; Hist. Long Island, 2d ed., 
vol. L, p. 460. 



60 LABORS ON LONG ISLAND. 

of February in that year, gave him fifty acres of 
land on the west side of Nesaquake river, in con- 
sideration of his ministerial labors. There, too, at 
the age of twenty-four years, died his wife, Jemima, 
April 20, 1716, as indicated by a headstone in the 
old burial-place of the Smiths. 

In what year he came to New Jersey is not 
known. It was prior to April 23, 1723, at which 
time he and Matthew Williams were witnesses of a 
deed given by Peleg Shores to Jonathan Lindsley, 
conveying " one equal half of the farm or planta- 
tion which did formerly belong to Anthony Olive." 
On the 18th of May, 1726, the same land was con- 
veyed by Jonathan Lindsley to David Williams, 
and the deed again witnessed by Daniel Taylor 
and Elizabeth Taylor.* The latter may be pre- 
sumed to have been his "beloved wife, Elizabeth," 
mentioned in his will. She married a Hedden 
after his decease. 

According to traditions handed down in the line 
of his family, Mr. Taylor brought a wife from Long 
Island, whom he buried here. From such light as 
we can gather from his will, and from the ages 
recorded on their tombstones, we suppose her to 

* On the back of the deed is a deposition, certified Dec. 27, 
17 G5, to the effect that the said Elizabeth Taylor, now Elizabeth 
Hedden, personally appeared before Samuel Woodruff, one of his 
Majesty's Council for the province of New Jersey, and swore that 
she saw the within deed lawfully executed. 



61 



have been the mother of his oldest son and second 
daughter ; and if he came to this parish after the 
year 1721, he must have brought with him three 
children. This second wife is said to have been 
afflicted with a nervous disorder, which so affected 
her mind as to bring great trials upon her hus- 
band. Toward the end of her life she had a ham- 
mock suspended in her room, on which she was 
laid and gently swung, with a view to its soothing 
and sleep-inducing influence. Before the spring of 
1726, her sufferings had evidently terminated ; un- 
less we suppose the Elizabeth Taylor mentioned 
above to have been the mother or sister of the min- 
ister, instead of his wife.* The lady whom he- 
next married, and who bore that name, outlived 
him by at least eighteen years. From this and 
other circumstances, it may be inferred that she 
was considerably younger than he. 

From the number of deeds witnessed, and appar- 
ently drawn up by Mr. Taylor, he appears to have 

* An ancient volume of sermons, said to have been given by 
Mr. Taylor to Susan Tichenor, and now in the possession of Widow 
Mary Freeman, of South Orange, contains upon a fly-leaf the in- 
scription : " Elizabeth Taylor, her Booke, 1686." The tradition is, 
that it had belonged to his sister. If so, she had probably received 
it from her mother, as the name was inscribed five years before 
Mr. Taylor's birth. The volume is a thick quarto, published in 
London in 1674, and containing thirty-one sermons by leading 
preachers of the time ; the first being by the compiler, Dr. Samuel 
Annesly. 

4 



62 HOME AND LANDS. 

been the scrivener, as well as the minister, of the 
parish. His ready pen and knowledge of legal 
forms were in frequent demand, and doubtless 
saved to the planters many a fee that would other- 
wise have gone to the lawyers. 

He was the owner of his residence, which stood 
on the site now occupied by Joseph B. Lindsley, 
corner of Main and Hillyer streets. This bordered 
upon the twenty acres bought of Thomas Gardner 
by the parish. His house is said to have been 
afterwards moved to where the Park House stands, 
and to have been fitted up for a tavern. 

Besides the homestead, he had a tract of land, 
lying a quarter of a mile to the north, on the south- 
west side of Washington street, now owned by the 
Williams family. Fifteen acres* of this, lying be- 
tween the upper end of Park street and the brook, 

* Described as " one certain tract or parcel of land, scituate, 
lying and being in the bounds of Newark aforesaid, at the moun- 
tain plantations, so-called, and by a brook commonly called and 
known by the name of Perrow's brook : Beginning at a walnut-tree 
marked,on the western side of the highway ; thence running north- 
west down to said brook ; thence northerly, as the brook runs, 
to the land of said Matthew Williams ; and thence by his land to 
an highway, and so round by highways to the place where it 
began : containing and to contain fifteen acres, be there more or 
less." Signed by DANIEL TAYLOR. 

Gorshom Williams, ) 

Thomas + Lamson, [ w ^^«- 
mark. J 



REVIVAL OF 1734. 63- 

were deeded by him to Matthew Williams, Jim., 
June 1, 1731. The rest of it lay on the other 
side of Park street, including the ground on which 
Aaron Williams now resides. Between it and the 
main road were twenty-six acres, owned by Na- 
thaniel Williams, and sold by him, Feb. 10, 1735, 
to Matthew Williams, who again sold four acres of 
the same to the parish, in 1748. 

We know little of Mr. Taylor as a preacher. 
From the boldness and zeal with which, according 
to their statements, he took sides against the Pro- 
prietors in defence of Indian titles, we may infer 
a character of energy, fearlessness, and firmness. 
Such a man must have been one who shunned 
not to declare the whole counsel of God. And it 
is pleasing to know, not only from the perpetuity 
and growth of the Ch urch, but from records made 
at that time of the mighty works of God, that 
power divine attended his words, and that revival 
scenes were passing here while the great awaken- 
ing in New England was in progress. President 
Edwards, in his Narrative of Surprising Conver- 
sions, thus alludes to a work of grace here : " Bill 
this shower of Divine blessing has been yet more 
extensive : there was no small degree of it in some 
parts of the Jerseys, as I was informed when I was 
at New York (in a long journey I took at that time 
of the year, for my health), by some people of the 
Jerseys whom I saw : especially the Eev. Mr. Wil- 



64 REVIVAL IN NEWARK. 

liam Tenuent, a minister who seemed to have such 
things much at heart, told me of a very great 
awakening of many in a place called the Moun- 
tains, under the ministry of one Mr. Cross/' &c* 
What numbers were truly converted and added to 
the fellowship of the Church, as the result of this 
"very great awakening of many" we have no means 
of ascertaining. 

About four years later, viz., in August, 1739, a 
revival of similar power took place in Newark, 
under the then youthful Eev. Aaron Burr. It was 
just before the first visit of White field to this part 
of the country. Beginning among the } r outh, it 
reached the adult portion of the congregation by 
the following spring, when " the whole town were 
brought under an uncommon concern about their 
eternal interests." As the work abated in Newark, 
it broke out in Elizabethtown, after Whitefield 
had been laboring there with apparently no suc- 

8 It is stated by Rev. Richard Webster (Hist. Presb. Ch., p. 
413,) that John Cross, " styled by Dr. Brownlee ' a Scottish 
worthy,' was received as a member of Synod in 1732, and settled 
at a place ' called the Mountains, back of Newark.' The remark- 
able revival in his congregation there, in 1734 and '35, is noticed 
in Edwards's ' Thoughts on Eevivals.' " Here is a double error. 
Mr. Cross, of Baskingridge, could not have been settled here, 
though he may have preached here during the revival — for he 
was very zealous in revival labors : and the passage referred to 
in Edwards is cited from the wrong treatise, being found in his 
Narrative of Surprising Conversions. 



NEGRO PLOTS. 65 

cess. Again, in the following year, it was revived 
in Newark, with more glorious manifestations of 
Divine power than before. To what extent its in- 
fluence was felt by this congregation, we have no 
means of knowing. 

It is painful to tarn from these pleasing views of 
the triumphs of the gospel of peace, to the troubles 
and disorders that ensued. Serious apprehensions 
were excited, about this time, of insurrections 
among the servile population. As early as 1734, 
a rising was attempted in the neighborhood of the 
Earitan, in consequence of which one or more ne- 
groes were hung. In July, 1750, two others were 
executed at Perth Amboy, for the murder of their 
mistress. Between those events, in 1741, a formi- 
dable negro plot was thought to be discovered in 
New York, which resulted in " many executions, 
both by hanging and burning." The plan laid in 
the insurrection of the Raritan was, to join the In- 
dians in the interest of the French, in a general 
massacre of the English population. 

But the troubles in which the planters of this 
locality were more seriously involved, grew out of 
their relations with the great land-monopoly. The 
Proprietors of East Jersey had, in 1702, surren- 
dered to the crown their powers of government, 
but not their right to the soil. It was stipulated, 
among the conditions of the transfer, that " the 
crown disclaims all right to the province of New 



66 RIGHTS OF THE CROWN. 

Jersey, other than the government, and owns the 
soil and quit-rents, &c, to belong to the said Gen- 
eral Proprietors; and the Governors are directed 
not to permit any other person or persons, besides 
the said General Proprietors, to purchase any land 
whatsoever from the Indians within the limits of 
their grant." By an act of the Assembly, pub- 
lished in November, 1703, after the arrival of Lord 
Cornbury, not only all Indian purchases which 
had not been made by the Proprietors before that 
time, were declared null and void, unless grants 
for them were obtained within six months ; but 
also all who should thereafter make purchases of 
the Indians, except Proprietors (and they only in 
the manner prescribed by the act), should forfeit 
forty shillings per acre for every acre so pur- 
chased. 

This stringent prohibition was thus confidently 
vindicated : " Has not the crown of England a right 
to those void or uninhabited countries which are 
discovered by any of its subjects? Has not the 
crown of England a right to restrain its subjects 
from treating with any heathen nation whatsoever? 
And has not the crown of England, in consequence 
of that right, power to grant the liberty of treating 
with any heathen nation to any one particular per- 
son, exclusive of all others, and that upon such 
terms as by the crown may be thought proper? 
Has not the crown of England at least granted that 



CHALMERS' OPINION. 67 

right to the proprietors by the grants of New Jersey, 
under the great seal of England ?"* 

Yet there were some in Newark, as there had 
been long before in Eliza bethtown, who ventured to 
call this right in question; "blindly led on," say 
the Proprietors, " by a position, that the Indians were 
once the owners of the soil ; and therefore they con- 
clude that those who have purchased, or got deeds 
of their right, must also be owners now." 

It is not our business to discuss the question here 
at issue. The reader will however be interested in 
the following views of Dr. Chalmers, touching the 
same question. A band of Moravian missionaries, 
exploring the coast of Labrador in 1811, took formal 
possession of the country in the name of George 
III., whom they represented to the natives as the 
Great Monarch of all those territories. " We do 
not see the necessity of this transaction," says Chal- 
mers, " and confess that our feelings of justice some- 
what revolted at it. How George III. should be 
the rightful monarch of a territory whose inhabi- 
tants never saw a European before, is something 
more than we can understand. We trust that the 
marauding policy of other times is now gone by, 
and that the transaction in question is nothing more 
than an idle ceremony. "f 

* Publication of April, 1746. 

f On the efficacy of Missions as conducted by the Moravians. — 
These claims of the Christian potentates of Europe have a curious 



68 PAPAL CLAIMS. 

Sentiments similar to these began to be general 
in our mountain settlement in the course of twenty- 
years after the constitution of the parish. 

Various causes had operated to excite disaffection 
toward the proprietors. Many of them were ab- 
sentee landlords, living in England and Scotland on 
the rents which they drew from the province. It 



history. They began with the popes, who, as God's vicegerent?, 
claimed to be the earth's sovereign masters and proprietors. All 
heathens, heretics, and infidels, according to their theory, had no 
right to any possession of the earth's soil. Hence, Pope Eugene 
IV., in 1440, made a munificent donation of Africa to King Al- 
phonso V., of Portugal ; " not because that continent was unin- 
habited, but because the nations subsisting there were infidels, and 
consequently unjust possessors of the country." By the same 
principle, Pope Alexander VI., in 1493, the year after its discovery, 
gave the whole of America to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 
(although one of his iufallible predecessors had declared that no 
such continent as America did or could exist) ; a grant which the 
royal pair accepted (according to Herrera) against the advice of the 
Spanish civilians and canon lawyers. 

The disposing power thus assumed by the popes was too absurd 
to be regarded by Eoman Catholic princes, when exercised to the 
prejudice of their interests. Yet, with greater absurdity, they 
arrogated for themselves the power which they denied to the suc- 
cessors of St. Peter. Thus, Henry VII. of England, in 1496, com- 
missioned John Cabot and his three sons, with their associates, "to 
navigate all parts of the ocean, in five ships, under the banners of 
England, for the purpose of discovering such heathen or infidel 
regions, countries or islands, wherever situated, as were unknown 
to christian states ; with power to set up the Eang's standard in 
any lands, islands, &c. which they might discover, not previously 
occupied by christians, and to seize, conquer, and possess, all such 



DISAFFECTION. 69 

happened in a few instances that lands were twice 
sold under conflicting proprietary titles, so that cer- 
tain purchasers were dispossessed. Some who had 
purchased a proprietary interest, with the privilege 
of selecting their land afterward, took advantage of 
the circumstance to select and sell at their pleasure. 
Licenses to buy of the natives were also forged or 

lands, islands, &c. , and as his liege vassals, governors, locumtenentes 
[lieutenants] or deputies, to hold dominion over and have exclusive 
property in the same.'" Elizabeth, James, and their successors, gave 
similar commissions, all containing this proviso, " that the territories 
and districts so granted be not previously occupied and possessed 
by the subjects of any other christian prince or state." 

TVhat kings would not concede to popes, was by virtue of their 
power conceded to kings, but under protest. Thus, Bartholomew 
De Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, in a treatise dedicated to Charles 
V., represented that the natives of America, ''having their own 
lawful kings and princes, and a right to make laws for the good 
government of their respective dominions, could not be expelled 
out of them, or deprived of what they possess, without doing vio- 
lence to the laws of God as well as the law of nations.'' 

' : It is universally acknowledged that discovery, the only title 
that any European State could allege to the lands of America 
affords no just claim to any but derelict or uninhabited lands, which 
those of America are not. [Griffith, vol. 10.]" 

: - All the nations of Europe, and indeed of the world, have been 
as unchristian and as savage as the aborigines in America ; and 
if ignorance, either in matters of religion or science, could defeat 
the title of a people to their country, the English must be unjust 
possessors of the British soil, and incapable of conveying it to their 
posterity.'' 

See an " Examination into the rights of the Indian Nations to 
their respective countries," &c. Phila. 1781. 

4* 



70 OPPOSITION MEASURES. 

altered. These things all together created no little 
confusion; and between the errors of agents and 
the arts of the unprincipled, the planters often found 
their just interests sacrificed. It was not difficult 
to turn the current of popular indignation against 
the proprietors, even when the latter were victims 
of the fraud. 

As early as 1744, we find the settlers about the 
mountain adopting measures for the defence of their 
titles.* Contributions were raised for defraying the 

9 See Samuel Harrison's account-book, preserved by Edward 
Pierson, Esq., of Newark, in which is the following "account of 
what each one hath paid in order to the establishing their right of 
land, and in defraying the charge." The dates belong to 1744. 

Thomas Williams, £ 8-0 

Samuel Wheeler, 17-<> 

Going to X. England 4 days, 1- 4-0 
Going to N. England 9 days, 2-14-0 
Going to Horse Neck with 

Mr. Taylor, 5-0 

Going to Horse Neck with 

Dan. Lamson, 5-0 

Cash p'd to Mr. Taylor, 3-6 

" p'd to John Cundict, 14-0 

do. 2-4 

" p'd to John Tompkins, 17-10 

Going to New York, 10-0" 

&c. &c. 

We find the following entry also about that time: "Jan. 23, 
1744-5. Samuel Freeman brought to me two wolves' heads, and 
I marked it [them] according to law and gave him a ticket for the 
same." We may infer that Mr. Harrison was a magistrate, and 
that Deacon Freeman did not consider the poor wolves entitled to 
the charities of his office. 



"Nathaniel Crane, 


£1-10-0 


Sam. Harrison, in cash to 




Capt. Wheeler, 


7-0 


Nathaniel Camp, 


7-0 


Samuel Baldwin, 


7-0 


Sam. Harrison p'd Mr. Tay- 




lor, 


3-6 


John Cundict p'd Mr. Tay- 




lor, 


7-0 


August -0. Garhshom Wil- 




liams, 


7-0 


Oct. 7. I received of Amos 




Williams, on accompt of 




the charg a of the purchase 




right, 


7-0 



LOSS OF DEED. 71 

expenses of agents sent to Connecticut and to Horse 
Neck [Caldwell], for the purpose, it is presumed, of 
obtaining papers or affidavits tending to confirm 
their rights. 

In these proceedings Mr. Taylor appears to have 
taken a prominent part. 

From the coincidence of dates it would seem 
that these measures were made necessary by the 
loss of the deed of the large Indian purchase of 
1701. That important document was destroyed — 
whether accidentally or intentionally cannot be 
known — by the burning of Jonathan Pierson's 
house, March 7, 1744-5. With all haste another 
was drawn up, which was signed on the 14th by 
certain descendants of the old Sagamores, and 
witnessed by Isaac Yangiesen, Francis Cook, [his 
mark,] Daniel Taylor, and Michael W. Vreelandt 
[his mark.] The event furnished an occasion, how- 
ever, which seems to have been seized upon for 
disturbing many persons in their claims and pos- 
sessions, and this in turn gave rise to the riots that 
ensued. Samuel Baldwin, for getting saw-logs off 
his land, was arrested and put in jail. His friends 
went to his rescue, broke open the jail and released 
him. In November, depositions were made before 
Joseph Bonnel, Esq., " by John Morris, aged 79 
years, Abraham Van Giesen, aged 80 years, Michael 
Vreelandt, aged 81 years, Cornelius Demaress, 
Samuel Harrison, John Condit, Deacon Samuel 



72 RIOTS. 

Ailing, Samuel Tompkins, Francis Spier, Ilen- 
drick Francisco, Joseph Piggs, and others, relating 
to the course of the Proprietors of East Jersey, in 
obliging them to repurchase their lands after hav- 
ing enjoyed long and peaceable possession. 1 '* In 
the same month, Nehemiah Baldwin, Joseph Pier- 
son, Daniel Williams, Nathaniel Williams, Eleazer 
Lamson, Gamaliel Clark, and twenty-one others, 
stood before the Supreme Court for riots committed 
in Essex county. 

Affairs were now converging to a general and 
spirited struggle with the Proprietors. During the 
year 1745, an association was formed, and another 
large purchase west of the mountain was made of 
the Indians, in which all proprietary claims were 
ignored. It was the famous purchase of fifteen 
miles square, obtained, as the Proprietors sneer- 
ingly asserted, " for the valuable consideration of 
five shillings and some bottles of rum . . . from 
Indians who claimed no right, and told them they had 
none ; but no matter for that, it was enough that 
they were Indians, and they had their deeds." The 
purchasers took a different view of the transaction. 
They had their vindicator too. There was 

u A Daniel come to judgment : yea, a Daniel." 

Toward the close of the year, there appeared in 
New York a little pamphlet of forty-eight pages, 

* Rutherford MS8. See Analytical Index, by N. J. Hist. Soc. 



VINDICATION. 73 

entitled " A Brief vindication of the Purchassors 
Against the Proprietors in a Christian Manner." 
It is supposed to have been written bj Mr. Taylor.* 
A writer also in the New York Post-Bo j, of Feb- 
17, 1745-6, just after another riot and release of 
prisoners in the Newark jail, took up the cause 
of the planters, laying on the Proprietors the blame 
of the disturbance. And in April a petition was 
addressed to the General Assembly, in which the 
charges set forth in the Post-Boy were enlarged 
upon, and measures of relief were sought. In the 
meantime, prosecutions were renewed against the 
agitators ; a list of forty-four persons concerned in 
the last riot being filed in the Supreme Court at 
the May term. 

But law owes its potency to public opinion, and 
so the Proprietors in turn made their appeal to the 
public by means of the press. From their publica- 
tion of April 7, 1746, it appears that this part of 
Newark bore its full share of responsibility for the 
riots, while a very charitable apology is suggested 
for some of the offenders. They say : " Possibly 



* There is a copy in England among the Board of Trade papers. 
On the title-page is this note in the hand of Mr. James Alexander, 
of the Council of New Jersey : " This ought to have been with 
papers transmitted in December and February last, but copies 
could not then be got at New Tork, the author having carried all 
to New Jersey for sale there." See Analytical Index to the Colo- 
nial Documents of N. J., p. 196. 



74 REPLIES. 

many of the rioters, being ignorant men, and many 
of them strangers to the Province, and since they 
came to it living retired in and behind the moan- 
tains of Newark, upon any land they could find, 
without enquiring who the owner thereof was, have 
of late been animated and stirred up to believe, 
that those things which the laws of the Province 
have declared to be criminal and penal were law- 
ful ; and that those crimes committed gave the 
criminals rights, privileges, and properties ; but 
though many have been ignorant enough to be so 
seduced, we cannot think that all can with truth 
plead that excuse." Doubtless among the excepted 
cases was " Parson Taylor," suspected by council- 
man Alexander (who wished he had sufficient evi- 
dence of it) to be the composer of all their papers. 

In their publication of Sept. 14, 1747, we find 
the following spicy allusions to our ancient pastor : 

" The Committee [of the opposition] who appear 
on the stage, are nine expert men, with an Assem- 
blyman in the number, and many hundreds, even 
thousands, say they, of club-men at their command. 
And who dan withstand that interest ? Especially 
as the worthy Committee and clubmen have two 
supernumerary prompters behind the curtain — 
Clergymen — w ho sanctify their actions ! One of 
them, it's said, is the before-named Mr. Taylor, a 
reverend Independent minister of the mountains 
behind Newark, secretary, scribe, and councillor to 



PULPIT VIEWS. 75 

the worthy Committee, in their several late per- 
formances in newspapers, petitions, proposals, and 
answer now before us ; and a worthy partner with 
the Committee in the fifteen-mile-square purchase 
aforesaid, lately (as before is said,) for a five-shil- 
ling York bill and some rnm, bought of some 
Indians who claimed no right ; and yet (if we will 
take their words for it) this their purchase was 
honestly, duly and legally made : which Eeverend 
Pastor, it's said, makes it as clear as the sun, in his 
sermons to the Committee and Rioters, that all that 
they have done is authorized by the Bible ; for 
there, he assures them, he has found a charter-grant 
for their lands ; and even cites book, chapter and 
verse for it ; and no man can question that to be 
the best record on earth, and all authority of man 
that would derogate from that charter, is rightly to 
be resisted and opposed. The other clergyman, 
it's said, is the Rev. Mr. John Cross, late minister 
of Basking-Ridge, Secretary, scribe and counsellor 
to the worthy Mr. Roberts, who assumed to be com- 
mander-in-chief of the rioters in their late expedi- 
tion to Perth Amboy, on the 17th of July last ; 
and for which he and many others stand indicted 
of high treason." 

Such was the tone of the controversy. It is not 
unlikely, if the sermons alluded to could be repro- 
duced, we should find indignation as eloquent, if 
not sarcasm as abundant, on the other side. 



76 OTHER THOUGHTS. 

But Mr. Taylor's interest in the controversy was 
now ending. A subject of more solemn concern- 
ment claimed his thoughts. About three months 
after the above publication was issued, he was setting 
his house in order as one whose time of departure 
was at hand. We present to the reader a copy of 
his will, taken from the probate records at Trenton, 
as showing the manner in which the old Puritans 
closed up their earthly affairs. 

" In the name of God, amen : this twenty-first 
day of December, Anno Domini one thousand 
seven hundred and forty-seven, I, Daniel Tay- 
lor, of Newark, in the county of Essex and prov- 
ince of New Jersey, clerk,* being aged and infirm 
of body, but of sound and perfect mind and mem- 
ory, thanks be given unto God therefor, calling 
unto mind the mortality of my body, and knowing 
it is appointed unto all men once to die, do make 
and ordain this my last will and testament. And 
principally, and first of all, I give and recommend 
my soul into the hands of God who gave it, hoping 
through the alone merits of Jesus Christ to have 
eternal life ; and my body I recommend unto the 
earth, (being dead,) to be buried in a decent Chris- 
tian manner at the discretion of my executors, 
nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I 
shall receive the same again by the mighty power 

* That is. cleric, or clergyman. 



77 

of God. And as touching such worldly estate 
wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this 
life, I give, devise and dispose of the same in the 
following manner and form : 

"Imprimis, I give, devise and bequeath unto 
my beloved wife Elizabeth, one equal third part 
of all and singular my household goods and chat- 
tels, if she please to accept it as her dowry from 
me. 

" Item, I give my son, Daniel Taylor, besides 
what he hath already had from me since he came 
of age, (which is to the value of more than sixty 
pounds,) the sum of ten pounds, to be paid within 
one year after my decease, either in money or what 
may be equivalent thereto. 

" Item, I give my daughter Jemima what hath 
been provided for her against the day of her mar- 
riage of household furniture, as also a cow, and the 
sum of five pounds to be paid her as is above said. 

u Item, I give unto my other two daughters, viz., 
Mary and Elizabeth, the other part of my house- 
hold goods, and the sum of twenty pounds in 
money, to be paid to each of them by their breth- 
ren hereafter mentioned, when or as they shall 
come to full age, &c. 

" Item, I give unto my other three children, viz., 
Davie, Joseph and Job, all and singular my estate, 
(not otherwise herein disposed of,) both real and 
personal, to be unto or for them (when they come 



78 THE WITNESSES. 

of age) and their heirs and assigns forever. And 
my will is, that if any or either of my children do 
or shall decease before they come of age, or with- 
out issue, their portion or inheritance shall be dis- 
tributed or divided unto or among the survivors, 
viz. : if males, unto the males, and [if] females, 
unto the females ; and also that the negroes, if they 
desire it, shall be sold, or at the discretion of my 
executors put out on hire, for the good of my sons 
aforesaid, till they come of age, and that they, par- 
ticularly Joseph and Job, be put to learn some 
trade. 

"Item, I do hereby constitute, ordain and appoint 
my beloved friends and brethren in covenant rela- 
tion, Joseph Peck and David Williams, executors 
of this my will to see it duly performed, and I do 
hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disannull all 
other and former wills, legacies, bequests, and 
executors, at any time before-named, willed or 
bequeathed, ratifying and allowing this to be my 
last will and testament. In witness whereof I 
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and 
year first above written. 

Daniel Taylor. [L. S.]" 

The witnesses were " Abraham Soverhill, Eleazer 
Lamson, Sarah Lamson [her mark.]" Eighteen 
days afterward, the testator experienced the solemn 



HIS DEATH. 79 

change " appointed unto all men." The will was 
proved January 23d. 

On a plain horizontal slab of brown stone in the 
old graveyard may be read the following : 

" Survivers, let's all imitate 
The vertues of our Pastor, 
And copy after him like as 
He did his Lord and Master. 
To us most awfull was the stroke 
By which he was removed 
Unto the full fruition of 
The God he served and loved." 

And below it — 

" Here lyes the pious remains 
Of the Rev d Mr. Daniel Tayler, 
Who was minister of this parrish 
Years, Dec d Jan? 8 th , A.D., 1U1-8, 
In the 51th year of his age." 

The omission of the numeral before years, has 
left it impossible to determine just when he came 
to the parish. 

We have already spoken of his family. His 
first wife, buried at Smithtown, was probably the 
mother of his daughter Jemima, who bore her 
name, and who, as we may infer from the will, was 
considerably older than her sisters. Daniel and 
Mary were nearly of an age, and are supposed to 
have been children of his second wife. As the 
will implies that at least one of his daughters was 



80 ' DESCENDANTS. 

a minor at the time of his decease, we suppose 
Elizabeth and her younger brothers to have been 
children of his third marriage. The grave of his 
second wife, if she was buried here, is without a 
headstone and its place unknown. Daniel,* the 
oldest son, who lived on a farm beyond the moun- 
tain, died Oct. 17, 1794, aged 74 years, and was 
buried near his father. Of the daughters, Mary 
became the wife of Deacon Amos Baldwin, and 
died Sept, 30, 1795, in her 75th year. 

In common with many of his parishioners and 
ministerial contemporaries, Mr. Taylor was a slave- 
holder. His will indicates a humane regard for 
the wishes of his servants in the disposition to be 
made of them after his decease. 

We should like to be able to pay a due tribute 
to some of those worthy men who were the helpers 
of Mr. Taylor's ministry ; but with a single excep- 
tion, the names of the church officers of that period 
are unknown. Their only record is on high. There 
is presumptive evidence that Samuel Pierson, the 
carpenter, was one of the first deacons. The evi- 
dence is found in the following lines upon his head- 
stone : 

* Daniel and Anne Taylor had a son Oliver, who died Aug. 11, 
1785, in his 31st year. Also a son Daniel, who lived to old age 
and had several children. Among them was the late Mrs. Char- 
lotte, wife of John M. Lindsley. The descendants of the old 
pastor are found among the Lindsleys, Baldwins, and Cranes. 
None of the Taylor name, now resident here, have been traced. 



CHURCH OFFICERS. 81 

" Here lies interred under this mould 
A precious heap of dust, condoled 
By Church of Christ and children dear, 
Both which were th' objects of his care." 

His decease occurred March 19, 1730, in his 67th 
year. 

Joseph Peck, one of the " beloved friends and 
brethren in covenant relation " selected by Mr. 
Taylor to be the executors of his will, held subse- 
quently the double office of elder and deacon. He 
was forty-six years old at the time of Mr. Taylor's 
decease. It is not known that he was then an offi- 
cer. The same may be said of the " pious and 
godly Mr. Job Brown," who was in his full man- 
hood — thirty-eight years old. Deacon Samuel 
Freeman, whose name will occur in the following 
chapter, was six years younger. These and others 
soon to be mentioned, received the bread of life 
from the first pastor of the flock, and formed a 
part of the sorrowful procession that followed him 
to his rest. 



CHAPTEE IV. 
REV. CALEB SMITH. 

IF, when Samuel Harrison was writing the accounts 
of his fulling-mill and saw-mill, he could have 
foreknown what was yet to be the historic value 
of a single leaf of his account-book; that after 
a hundred years and more the church records of 
that day would all be lost, the names of its officers 
lost, and all knowledge of the age and origin of the 
old parsonage lost, till the said account-book should 
open its bronzed and tattered lips to reveal the in- 
teresting secrets ; possibly that knowledge would 
have secured for the volume a more careful hand- 
ling and a choicer place in his writing-desk. Be- 
yond a doubt, it would have put in exercise all his 
clerkly skill. The pen would have striven for a 
little more method and grace, and the dictionary 
would have corrected sundry slips of orthograph}^. 
This Samuel Harrison was the second of that 
name in Newark, and a grandson of Sergeant Eich- 
ard. He exercised the quadruple functions of mag- 
istrate, farmer, fuller and sawyer. He was, withal, 



THE PAKSONAGE. 83 

a loyal rent-payer, as appears from a petition ad- 
dressed to Governor Belcher in 1747, and signed by 
Nathaniel Wheeler, Jonathan Pierson, John Con- 
diet, Nathaniel Camp, Samuel Harrison, Samuel 
Baldwin, and others, asserting their loyalty, and 
vindicating themselves against an implied connec- 
tion with recent disturbances and riots. 

From the entries in his day-book, we learn that 
in July, 1748 — the summer following Mr. Taylor's 
death — he was sawing " oke plank" "gice," "slep- 
ers," and other material, and also receiving sundry 
sums of money, " on account of the parsonage." The 
money was received, in sums ranging from a few 
shillings to near twenty pounds, from David Ward, 
Jonathan Shores, David Williams, Thomas Wil- 
liams, David Baldwin, Nathaniel Crane, Noah Crane, 
Azariah Crane, Stephen Dod, John Dod, Eleazer 
Lamson, Gershom Williams, Ebenezer Farancl, Peter 
Bosteda, William Crane, Jonathan Ward, Jonathan 
Sergeant, Samuel Cundict, Joseph Peck, Deacon 
Samuel Freeman, Bethuel Pierson, Thomas Lam- 
son, Samuel AVheeler, Eobert Baldwin, and Joseph 
Jones : — a list of twenty-five names, chiefly repre- 
senting (we may presume) heads of families. 

It thus appears that the society took occasion from 
the loss of its pastor to provide a home for his suc- 
cessor. Instead, however, of placing it on the par- 
ish lands, a new lot of four acres was bought of 
Matthew Williams, lying "on the north side of the 



84 CALEB SMITH. 

highway that leads to the mountain, near the house 
once the Eev. Daniel Taylor's, late of Newark, de- 
ceased." It lay opposite to the twenty acres previ- 
ously owned by the parish, and included the ground 
now occupied by Grace church. The deed was given 
September 14th, the price being " four pounds per 
acre, current money of New Jersey, at eight shil- 
lings per ounce." 

The house was to be of stone, and while the saw- 
mill aforesaid was turning out plank, &c., the quarry 
was yielding more solid material for the walls. At 
the same time the committee-men were looking out 
for a minister. This search was not a long one. 

There was a young man — a licentiate — who had 
just completed his theological studies with Eev. 
Jonathan Dickinson, of Elizabeth town. He was a 
son of William and Hannah Smith, of Brookhaven, 
L. I., where he was born December 29, 1723. Enter- 
ing Yale College in his sixteenth year, he displayed 
during his course of study a vigorous mind and com- 
mendable application. He became also, in his sec- 
ond year, one of the hopeful subjects of a work of 
grace in the College. After receiving a degree in 
1743, he remained some time as a resident graduate. 
In 1746 he was applied to by Eev. Aaron Burr, of 
Newark, to aid him in conducting a large Latin 
school. Other engagements prevented him at the 
time from accepting the place ; but some time after, 
upon an invitation of Mr. Dickinson, he went to 



THE CHURCH PRESBYTERIAN. 85 

Elizabethtown to instruct a number of young men 
in the languages. There, as we have said, he prose- 
cuted simultaneously his studies for the ministry, 
and having, by the advice of Mr. Dickinson and 
other ministers, presented himself to the Presbytery 
of New York for licensure, and creditably sustained 
his trials, he was licensed by the Presbytery in 
April, 1747. 

In the course of the next year and a half, he re- 
ceived a number of invitations to a settlement. He 
referred these to the Presbytery, but the latter sub- 
mitting them to his own judgment, he decided in 
favor of the call received from this society. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 30th of November, 1748, about 
eleven months after the death of his predecessor, he 
was ordained and installed by the Presbytery. 

We see in this ecclesiastical act a previous and 
important decision of the Church, of which we know 
not the particular reasons and history. The rehg- 
ious elements in New Jersey— and in New Eng- 
land no less — were originally mixed. There Con* 
gregationalism, and here Presbyterianism, had grad^ 
ually absorbed the others. 

The Mountain Society maintained its Indepen-. 
dent relations about thirty years. But the influ- 
ences that caused this were now yielding to others. 
The generation of its founders was passing away. 
New circumstances produced new views. Either 
before or in connection with the acquaintance made 
5 



86 



with Caleb Smith, the Church resolved to conform 
to the prevailing type of ecclesiastical order in the 
province. From that period to the present, it has 
adhered steadily to constitutional Presbyterianism 
— ever true, at the same time, to the common cause 
of religious liberty, on whose battle-ground it 
stands. 

Mr. Smith was about twenty-five years of age at 
the time of his settlement. He was not married. 
But as he stepped into the new house from time to 
time to observe the progress of the work, or to drop 
a suggestion relevant thereto, we fancy thoughts of 
other relations than those which bound him to his 
people were sometimes present with him. The fu- 
ture mistress of the manse, Miss Martha Dickinson, 
was yet at the parsonage in Elizabethtown. It is 
quite likely that during the winter the }~oung pas- 
tor found occasion now and then for a short absence 
from his mountain charge. As spring came on, 
Mr. Harrison's day-book received sundry charges 
(at the rate uniformly of three shillings sixpence a 
day) for work done on the parsonage. May 3d was 
employed in "slaking lime." Another day was 
devoted " to topping up the chimney." The sum- 
mer saw the work completed. In September, 1749, 
the minister's youngest daughter became the young 
minister's wife, and was happily installed in the 
stone mansion, then one of the best houses, we sup- 
pose, this side of Newark. 



PARSONAGE MEMORIES. 87 

That mansion was to have a long history. It 
was to be occupied about thirteen years by Mr. 
Smith ; then several years by others, as it might 
find tenants ; then thirty years by another pastor ; 
then about fourteen years by another ; and finally 
used as a tenement house near forty years more be- 
fore its demolition. 

What memories have since gathered around it ! 
There were life's sweetest pleasures. There were 
its tenderest sorrows. It beheld in turn the hy- 
meneal joy and the mourner's anguish. The 
serene happiness of the fireside, the calm intellect- 
ual life, the steady flame of devotion, all that is 
generous and grateful in the charities of the heart 
and the benefactions of the hand, had there a 
home. Many a kind token found a silent way to 
its kitchen, its wardrobes, its library. Warm 
greetings were exchanged within its doors. Vigor- 
ous thoughts were born in it. Well beaten oil went 
from it to the candlestick of the sanctuary. And 
there freedom found ever an advocate, if not always 
a shelter. In the days of the Eevolution it was a 
mark for British vengeance. But He who guards 
and blesses the habitation of the just, preserved it 
from the torch of war and the accidents of time till 
more than a century of years had rolled over it. 

There was one custom which had a long exist- 
ence in connection with the parsonage. Once a 
year there was a general turn-out of men and teams 



88 WOOD-DRAWING. 

for placing at the minister's door a suitable quantity 
of fuel. While the forest yet waved over the par- 
sonage lands, the invading axe was directed thither. 
When these were stripped, the standing wood was 
purchased elsewhere. The minister having con- 
tracted for the wood, his people did the rest. On 
a day appointed axes and oxen were in motion. 
The strokes resounded in the forest. The roads 
were astir. The pile in the parsonage yard grew 
large as the day grew small. There was a lively 
commotion too within doors, where the ' better-half 
of the parish provided the last and best part of the 
entertainment. A supper and a scene of right 
social cheer for old and young was the winding up 
of the wood frolic. Time and change have set 
aside this merry custom. The woodlands have 
vanished or been shorn of their strength, and the 
blaze of the old broad chimney has waned to the 
dull glow of the imprisoned anthracite. 

There was another species of wood-drawing prac- 
tised upon the parsonage lands of the old society — 
in which the mountain society contended for an 
interest — that it was found no easy task to suppress. 
Yote followed vote in the town meetings against 
the trespassers, with little apparent effect. Was 
the plunder stimulated by the cupidity and jealousy 
of contesting claimants? As a sample of town 
legislation on the subject, we give the following : 

March 10, 1746-7. — It was " unanimously voted, 



A QUEER WIND. 89 

that whoever shall cut any wood or timber on any 
of the land called the parsonage land, shall forfeit 
for every cart-load, ten shillings*, and so in propor- 
tion for a larger or lesser quantity, for the use of 
the poor ; also to forfeit the wood and timber, to be 
fetched away by any person, for the use of the poor ; 
the person carting the wood or timber to be paid 
by the overseers of the poor. Joseph Peck, Josiah 
Lindsley, Emanuel Cocker, David Crane, Samuel 
Plum, and David Bruen, were chosen to take care 
of the parsonage lands and prosecute offenders."* 

The circumstances of the parish, when Mr. Smith 
entered upon his labors here, promised anything 
but a quiet and successful ministry. Disorders 
were rife. Not a week had passed after his ordina- 
tion, when the following appeared in a New York 
paper, of date Dec. 5, 1748: "We are informed 
from New Jersey that one of the heads of the 
rioters having been committed to jail at Newark, a 
number of those people came to the jail on Monday 
night last and let him out ; and he afterwards made 
his boast that a strong north-west wind blew the door 
off the hinges, and he walked out of prison as Paul 

* A depreciation of another sort, upon the produce of the Newark 
orchards, is noticed in a letter of Gov. Belcher to Col. Low, April 
12, 1748. The Governor had a fortnight before desired the Colonel 
to send him some cider, " rich and potent, without any spirits put 
into it. " Out of the seven barrels sent, such a quantity was drawn 
by the wagoners and others that it took all but seven gallons of 
one to fill up the other six. Analyt. Index, p. 227. 



90 A pastor's feelings. 

and Silas did." We doubt if the mountain pastor 
shared the feelings of the liberated prisoner with 
respect to this north-west gale. He was evidently 
a man of different temper from his predecessor, 
while we are not to judge of the latter by the hear- 
say accounts repeated and amplified in proprietary 
documents. Mr. Smith was eminently a peace-lov- 
ing man, and one who appears to have devoted 
himself with great singleness of aim to the specific 
duties of his high vocation. Only with feelings of 
anxiety and grief could a man of his spirit have 
contemplated the disturbances which agitated his 
parish during the whole period of his connection 
with it, and which were at once a cause and a conse- 
quence of the low state of religion that prevailed. 
He knew of course the state of things when he 
came here, but we do not doubt that his whole 
personal and ministerial influence bore in the direc- 
tion of pacification and compromise. His voice, 
however, had not power to allay the storm. 

In the July following the above incident, the jail 
was again opened by a mob. Two prisoners were 
in it, whose friends (so wrote Mr. Alexander, one 
of the Proprietary Council,) tried to obtain a commis- 
sion for a special court to try them " by their fellow- 
rioters and relatives." Failing in this, " on the 
15th inst., in the dead hour of the night, a number 
of people in disguise came to and broke open the 
jail, and rescued the two prisoners. By their com- 






MORE RIOTS. 91 

ing in disguise, (the writer added,) it seems they 
have got a little more fear and modesty than they 
used to have." The congratulation was premature. 

A letter written October 14, 1749, by David Og- 
den, of Newark, to James Alexander, discovers to 
us the confusion which at that time involved the 
subject of land claims in this region. The letter 
states that the bearer, Daniel Pierson, a man well 
informed on the subject, "would testify that three- 
fifths hold lands under proprietary titles ; one-fifth 
have no pretensions to any title, and these were the 
chief destroyers of timber ; and the other fifth hold 
under Indian titles ; but not more than one-third 
first settled their lands under an Indian title ; and 
the other two-thirds purchased the Indian title 
within a few years then past." 

By this time, a strong sympathy with the people 
in their opposition to the proprietors began to show 
itself in the provincial assembly. Governor Belcher, 
in a letter to the Board of Trade, November 27, 
1749, complained that the Assembly of New Jersey, 
during the whole session, was in dispute and con- 
tention with the Council; and that it would enter 
into no measures to suppress the riots. On the 
same day, David Ogden wrote again to Mr. Alex- 
ander at Perth Amboy, relative to a riot committed 
a fortnight before at Horseneck, when the house of 
Abraham Phillips was broken open, the owner 
turned out, and a stack of his oats burnt ; suggest- 



92 ARRESTS AND INDICTMENTS. 

ing that "proper affidavits of this riot would be 
proper to accompany our Assembly's representation 
home, of the pacific spirit of the rioters." In the 
following March, according to another letter of the 
Governor, the rioters were spreading their influence 
to such a degree that the legislature seemed to be 
stagnated by it.* 

In these circumstances, the proprietors looked to 
the judiciary. Even Governor Belcher was sus- 
pected of a want of firmness. The courts were 
more reliable. Eiots were followed by arrests, and 
arrests by indictment and conviction. In 1755, at 
the June term of the Supreme Court, a large num- 
ber of persons were indicted, and the records of the 
court show that "some of the good people of the 
Mountain Society were certainly in this respect- 
able company. "f Jonathan Squier, John Vincent, 
Thomas Williams, Samuel Crowell, Nathaniel Wil- 
liams, Samuel Parkhurst, John Harrison, Moses 
Brown, Benjamin Perry, Levi Vincent, Jun., Josiah 
Lindsley, Bethuel Pierson, Nathaniel Ball, John 
Baker, Nathan Baldwin, Abel Ward, John Dodd, 
Timothy Ball, Ely Kent, Jonathan Davis, Jun., 
Ebenezer Lindsley, Eleazer Lamson, Enos Baldwin, 
Samuel Ogden, John Brown, Jun., Timothy Meeker, 

* Analyt. Index, pp. 257-8. 

f S. H. Congar — to whom the writer is indehted for extracts 
from the records. "I say respectable,'' he adds, "for doubtless 
they were generally in good repute." 



SECOND MEETING-HOUSE. 93 

Zebedee Brown, and Thomas Day, threw them- 
selves on the mercy of the court. Daniel Williams, 
Amos Harrison, John Tompkins, Ebenezer Farand, 
Eobert Young, Paul Day, Joseph Williams, and 
Elihu Lindsley, were fined five shillings. "Re- 
cognizance £100 for their good behavior for three 
years, and stand committed till fine and fees are 
paid." 

But the Mountain Society showed signs of pros- 
perity and progress even amid these adverse influ- 
ences. Mr. Smith had been in the parish but a few 
years, when the erection of a new and better house 
of worship was undertaken. The following con- 
tract refers to the finishing of the house the year 
after its erection : 

" Articles of agreement entered into this 13th 
day of March, 1754, between the committee of the 
Society of Newark Mountains, regularly chosen to 
manage in the affair of building a new meeting- 
house in said Society, by name Samuel Harrison, 
Samuel Freeman, Joseph Harrison, Stephen Dod, 
David Williams, Samuel Condict, William Crane, 
and Joseph Riggs on the one party, and Moses 
Baldwin on the other party ; whereas the said com- 
mittee have bargained and agreed, with the said 
Baldwin perfectly to finish the said meeting-house 
excepting the mason work which now remains to be 
done to the same ; which articles of agreement are, 
as to the most considerable particulars, as follows : 



94 CONTRACT FOR FINISHING. 

" 1. That said Baldwin shall faithfully and hon- 
estly finish the said house in the general, after the 
model of the meeting-house in Newark. 

"2. That said Baldwin shall find all the mate- 
rials for finishing the said house, such as timbers, 
boards, sleepers, glass, oil and paint, nails, hinges, 
locks, latches, bolts, with all other kinds of mate- 
rials necessary for finishing the said house after the 
model aforesaid, excepting the materials for the 
mason work. 

"3. That he shall seal [ceil] the arch, ends above 
the plate, and under the galleries, with white- wood 
boards, and paint the same well with a light sky 
color. 

" 4. That he shall take the desk of the old pulpit 
and so new model it that it shall be proportionable 
to the rest of the work, and that the rest of the 
gum- work be as the house in Newark, and oiled. 

"5. That he shall make six pews, one on each 
side the pulpit, and two on the right and two on the 
left fronting the pulpit, with doors and hinges. 

" 6. That he shall make shutters for the lower 
tier of windows, painted blue and white. 

" 7. That he shall set all the glass, and paint the 
sashes, and put springs in the same to prevent their 
falling. 

"8. That he shall make a row of pews in the 
front gallery next the wall. 

"9. That the said committee shall pay to the said 



THE COST. 95 

Baldwin for finishing the said meeting-house as 
above-mentioned, provided he completes it by the 
first day of December next, the sum of two hundred 
and forty pounds current money of this province, 
the payments to be as follows, viz.: that he shall 
be paid forty pounds upon demand, one hundred 
pounds more upon the first day of December next, 
and the last hundred pounds upon this day twelve 
months. 

" 10. That the said Baldwin shall employ any of 
the joiners belonging to this Society for so long a 
time as they shall chuse to work, until they have 
paid what they shall freely give to the said meet- 
ing-house, and that he shall allow them four and 
sixpence per day. 

" 11. That the said Baldwin shall have whatever 
he can get out of the old meeting-house that he shall 
work up into the new, together with all the hooks, 
and hinges, and locks. 

All which articles we whose names are above 
written do promise and oblige ourselves faithfully 
to perform and fulfil : in witness whereof, we have 
hereunto interchangeably set our hands the day and 
year above written."* 

This agreement had reference to the carpenter 
work upon the house, the walls of which were 
stone. The latter furnished work for many in the 
parish, who had doubtless equal privileges with the 

s The original paper is preserved by S. H. Conerar, 



96 HELPERS IN THE WORK. 

joiners. Thus, on the 20th of March, Samuel 
Jones received credit, 15 shillings, for six loads of 
rough stone ; David Peck, for four loads, 10 shil- 
lings ; David "Williams by Davie Taylor, two loads, 
3 shillings ; while Deacon Freeman had 7 shillings 
for laying sleepers two days, and Justice Harrison, 
William Crane, Thomas Williams, Samuel Cundict, 
Isaac Cundict, John Cundict, Stephen Dod, David 
Williams, Capt. [Matthew] Williams, Isaac Wil- 
liams, Joseph Harrison and others, for " taking 
down the ceiling of the old meeting-house," and for 
other work, were duly and equally credited at the 
rate of three shillings sixpence a day. In " Justice 
Harrison's" old account-book already referred to, 
we find a series of charges to the meeting-house ac- 
count from May to July 4th, when, says the record, 
" we raised the meeting-house galleries." On that 
d'ay thirty years later, another generation were 
raising liberty-poles. 

By the autumn of 1754, six years after Mr. 
Smith's settlement, the new house must have been 
occupied by the congregation. It was built for en- 
durance, and was to continue in use nearly twice as 
long as its predecessor. It stood a few rods farther 
west, nearly in front of the present edifice. 

It is not known that the Second Meeting-House 
was ever pictured by any contemporaneous hand. 
The view here presented was drawn from descrip- 
tions furnished by those who well remember it and 



minister's salary. 97 

who often worshipped in it. The representation 
given by the artist (E. E. Quinby, New York,) is 
said to be an accurate one. 

Of the state of the parish at this period we are 
able to furnish some particulars from a book of ac- 
counts kept by Mr. Smith. It contains the names 
of about eighty persons who are regularly charged 
for their annual rale, varying from a few shillings 
to the sum of two pounds and upwards. The ag- 
gregate per annum was not far from £65, or about 
$150* The rates were doubtless graduated by the 
civil tax list. This income was added to the use of 
the parsonage house and ]ands. There were, how- 
ever, as the account shows, some tardy rate-payers, 
who had several years of arrearages to settle for 
with Mr. Smith's executors, after his decease. 

A New York paper of July, 1756, notices a 
destructive hurricane, from which some of Mr. 

* From an entry made in 1762, it appears that the dollar was 
then equal in value to eight shiUings eight pence. "Wheat was 6s. 
to Is. per bushel ; oats, 2s. 6c?. ; Indian corn, 3^ to 4s.; buckwheat, 
2s. 6c?. to 3s. ; flax, 9c?. per lb. ; tallow, 8c?.; beef (by the quarter) 
3d. ; pork, 6c?.; butter, 18c?. ; cider, 10s. a barrel ; cider spirits, 3s. 
6c?. a gallon ; a quart of rum, 15c?. Jonathan Young received 3c?. 
a yard for weaving 114 yards of cloth, and £1 for weaving two 
coverlets. James Wood, alias Gold, received 3s. a day for cutting 
wood at the door ; 3s. 6c?. for cutting saw logs ; 4s. for dressing 
flax. Isaac Williams had 4s. 6d. for a day in the meadows ; Jedi- 
diah Crane 2s. 6c?. for tobacco. For a clock and case, Aaron Miller 
received £17 10s. ($40) ; for cleaning watch, 3s. 6c?. ; for grinding 
5 razors. 3s. dd. 



98 A HURRICANE. 

Smith's parishioners suffered. " The gust " — it 
says — " was felt in Philadelphia — also in a very 
severe manner in the afternoon at Newark Moun- 
tain in New Jersey, where the orchards, fences, 
cornfields, and woodlands, for about a mile and a 
half in length, are entirely ruined, many large trees 
being broken down and carried an incredible dis- 
tance from where they stood. Twenty-five houses 
and barns were quite blown away, among which 
were Samuel Pierson's barn and mill-house, Justice 
Crane's barn and part of his house, Capt. Amos 
Harrison's house and barn, two widows named 
Ward, their houses and barns, and a new house be- 
longing to one Dodd, almost finished." One might 
fancy the elements sharing the agitation of the 
times, and getting up a riot on their own account. 
But we doubt if the effects of this emeute gave as 
much satisfaction to the mountain farmers as did 
those of the " north-west wind " which, seven and a 
half years before, burst the doors of the Newark 
jail. 

A sadder visitation came the following summer. 
Death entered for the first time through the doors 
of the stone parsonage, and claimed for his own, 
after a year of suffering, the yet young and lovely 
wife, now the mother of three daughters. On the 
20th of August, 1757, eight years from his marriage, 
Mr. Smith was left a widower. This early bereave- 
ment, which took from him a woman of rare excel- 



SANCTIFIED SORROWS. 99 

lence, very deeply affected him. He thus wrote in 
his diary — which he then began to keep with more 
regularity, it being chiefly a record of his religious 
exercises : " This morning, a week ago, a holy God 
was pleased to make a wide breach upon me, in 
taking away the wife of my bosom with a stroke of 
his righteous hand. I have, therefore, thought 
proper to set apart this day for secret fasting and 
prayer, besides finishing some part of my prepara- 
tions for the approaching Lord's day ; and this prac- 
tice I am resolved, by the help of God's grace, to 
continue upon the last day of every week, without 
I am necessarily prevented, for some considerable 
time, without setting any particular time. And I 
would now look to God, that he would by his grace 
so influence my heart, and would so order things 
by his providence, that I may be enabled to keep 
this, which I judge in my present circumstances to 
be a necessary resolution. And it is my earnest 
prayer to God, he would keep me from a self-right- 
eous, Pharisaic spirit in regard to this practice, but 
that I may engage in it warmly and heartily, in the 
strength of God, for the health of my soul, only as 
an appointed means. 

" Now, the work I have before me this day is in 
particular : — (1.) To get my heart affectionately 
moved and touched with a sense of the loss I sus- 
tain by the death of so dear and excellent a com- 
panion, to the end I may be led to suitable grief at 



100 SECOND MARRIAGE. 

the cause of this controversy, which God hath, and 
indeed hath for a long time had with me. There- 
fore, (2.) One main part of my work this day is to 
search after and find out my sins, which have found 
me out by their deserved punishment, and in con- 
sequence to be abased and deeply humbled under 
the mighty hand of God for them." Another spec- 
ification was, to plead importunately with God 
that his long and heavy afflictions might answer 
their end upon him. 

This custom of fasting was continued to the end 
of his life. It is also stated by Mr. White, that 
11 he was one among a number of ministers in this 
country and Scotland, who united in a concert of 
prayer for the spread of the gospel, observing Sat- 
urday evening of each week, and the first Tuesday 
of the last week of February, May, August, and 
November, when there was a public exercise." 

Left with three young children, Mr. Smith found 
it necessary, after the death of his wife, to employ 
a housekeeper. The person who served him in this 
capacity, for a consideration of three shillings a 
week, was the widow Phebe Richards, who had the 
care of his household, as his accounts show, from 
November, 1757, to June, 1759. In the following 
October he formed a second marriage with Rebecca, 
daughter of Major Isaac Foote, of Branford, Conn. 
This lady, with an infant son named Apollos, sur- 
vived him. 



RELATIONS TO THE COLLEGE. 101 

In the latter years of his ministry, there was 
added to his other labors the task of giving classi- 
cal instruction to a number of boys. Among these 
we find the name of Matthias Pierson — the Doctor 
Matthias of a later day, who was one of the first 
trustees of the society under the charter. 

He was a patron of learning, and did much to 
further the interests of the infant college of New 
Jersey, of which he was made a trustee in 1750, 
and Clerk of the Board of Trustees soon after. 
Upon the death of Burr in 1757, whose funeral 
sermon he preached, he was sent to Stockbridge to 
use his influence in persuading Kev. Jonathan Ed- 
wards to accept the presidency of the college. Af- 
ter the decease of the latter in the following March, 
he performed for a few months the duties of the 
presidency. During the summer of 1758, the 
choice of the trustees having fallen upon Davies, of 
Virginia, Mr. Smith was again sent as one of a 
committee to use his personal influence in giving 
effect to the election. In this mission he was not 
immediately successful.* 

* His representations appear to have had more weight with 
Davies than with the presbytery to which the latter belonged. 
Davies wrote {Sept. 14, 1758) to Cowell, of Trenton: "Though 
my mind was calm and serene for some time after the decision of 
the presbytery [against his removal], and I acquiesced in their 
judgment as the voice of God till Mr. Smith was gone, yet to-day 
my anxieties are revived, and I am almost as much at a loss as 
ever what is my duty. .... If matters should turn out so as to 



102 STATE OF RELIGION. 

He was one who abounded in the work of the 
Lord. Few men have more conscientiously appro- 
priated the injunction : " Meditate upon these 
things ; give thyself wholly to them ; that thy profit- 
ing may appear to all." 

In the pulpit he had little action, and was some- 
what monotonous, yet his enunciation was clear, 
and his manner affectionate and forcible. Deeply 
in communion with the word himself, it fell from 
his lips with solemn weight. 

Yet, he labored with little apparent fruit. For 
this discouraging result there were special causes. 
The writer of his memoir observes, that "through 
the whole of his ministry there was a surprising 
deadness in the things of religion — a season of gen- 
eral backsliding and defection through the land, 
and his people partook of the spreading degeneracy, 
notwithstanding all his labors and pains; so that 
there was no remarkable revival of religion during 
the time of his ministry." The times were too 
troubled for the success of the gospel of peace. 
There was strife at home, there were rumors of wars 
abroad. Amid the general confusion, landlords 
contending with their tenants, while the English 
and French were fighting for territory on a larger 
scale, and the treacherous savage was made more 

constrain me to come to Nassau Hall, I only beg early intelligence 
of it by Mr. Smith, who intends to revisit Hanover shortly, or by 
post." 



CATECHIZING. 103 

treacherous by the white man's bribes, it is to us no 
occasion of wonder that this faithful minister of the 
Lord Jesus should often have felt that he almost 
"labored in vain, and spent his strength for 
nought." But the shepherd was needed at such a 
time, and his ministry was not lost. " He was 
especially blessed in feeding the lambs, and edify- 
ing the body of Christ." 

In the religious instruction of the young, Mr. 
Smith took a peculiar interest. It is said in his 
memoir that he " was abundant in catechetical ex- 
ercises. He used sometimes to catechize the chil- 
dren of the family where he visited ; and often at 
his lectures, in the different parts of the congrega- 
tion, he catechized the young ones present before 
he preached. But he found it very difficult to get 
the youth that were grown up to attend catechizing 
on week-days. Therefore he undertook this part of 
instruction on the afternoon of the Sabbath, when 
the public exercises were ended. His method 
throughout the summer season was, to divide the 
young part of his charge into three classes ; children, 
young women, and young men. The children, that 
is, those from six or seven years of age to twelve or 
thirteen, he used to catechize on one evening, the 
young women on another, and the young men on a 
.third ; and at those seasons he generally had from 
fifty to a hundred of each class. These were sea- 
sons that he highly prized, not only for instructing 



104 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 

the young in the principles of religion, but because 
he had such special opportunity to address them in 
particular, upon the great concerns of their souls 
and eternity. This practice he began soon after his 
settlement in the ministry, and maintained it to 
his death, and found great benefit from it. His 
usual method was, to ask them first a question out 
of the Assembly's Catechism, which he esteemed a 
valuable summary of religious principles, and then 
some questions contained or naturally arising from 
what he had asked ; concluding all in a practical 
address, urging and exhorting them to comply with 
the great things of religion." 

Mr. Smith possessed much influence in the eccle- 
siastical bodies to which he belonged. He was for 
many years Stated Clerk of the Presbytery. In 
debate he was easy, calm, candid. He was espe- 
cially a peace-maker, and was often happily success- 
ful in preventing or healing differences. His emi- 
nent piety, sincerity, and sound judgment combined 
to secure the confidence of his brethren. To these 
traits were added great modesty and a natural 
diffidence, which sometimes made large crosses of 
little duties. 

Once, on his way to his residence — so he wrote 
in his journal — he rode part of the distance with a 
person whom he had long desired to speak to on a 
point of moral conduct. " Knowing him to be a 
man of pretty rough disposition," said he, "I was 



EXCHANGE WITH TENNENT. 105 

distressed how to begin, and anxious what reception 
I should meet with. However, having first lifted 
up my heart to God for direction and resolution, I 
opened the matter and dealt plainly and affection- 
ately with him, setting forth the awful consequen- 
ces of such a practice in reference to himself and 
family, this world and another. He said little or 
nothing until I was about to part with him on the 
road, and then, with tears flowing, he gave me his 
hand and thanked me over and over. I bless God 
for this encouragement, and think myself much to 
blame I have not attempted the same sooner. 
I have several times undertaken private reproof 
with a fearful, trembling heart, and have met with 
a kinder reception than I expected. This should 
encourage me to go on." 

The anecdote is related of him, that he once ex- 
changed pulpits with Kev. William Tennent, of 
Freehold. In the interval of service he passed 
round among the people, shaking them by the 
hand, inquiring after the health of their families, 
and winning their best opinions by his peculiar ur- 
banity and dignity of manners, which somewhat 
contrasted with those of Mr. Tennent. The latter, 
on returning home, heard the praises of Mr. Smith 
in every one's mouth. Thinking to profit by the 
circumstance, he, on the following Sabbath, passed 
round among the people in the same way, bowing, 
shaking hands, inquiring of health, and assuming 



106 

the dignified manners of Mr. S. The thing was so 
evidently a piece of affectation, that a man of his 
congregation said to him, " Mr. Tennent, you are 
imitating Mr. Smith." "So I am," he replied, 
" and I am a fool for it ! How are you V resuming 
his free and easy style. 

The parish suffered no common loss when this 
studious, judicious, amiable and devoted man was 
cut down in the early maturity of his piety and 
usefulness. In the first part of October, 1762, he 
was seized with dysentery. For a time, his mind 
was somewhat clouded, but as his illness continued, 
his faith took hold of the promises, and his peace 
and joy were great. His people in the mean time 
showed their interest in the preservation of his life, 
by appointing a day of fasting and prayer, with re- 
ference to his condition. On the morning of the 
22d, at an early hour, perceiving his end near, he 
called his family around him, and commending 
them fervently to God, took an affectionate leave 
of them. At his request, his little son was brought 
and placed in his arms. Unable to lift his hand, 
he desired some one to lay it on the head of the 
child, for whom he tenderly invoked the divine 
protection and blessing. His wife, at his desire, 
sun?* the last four stanzas of the 17th of Watts' 

o 

Psalms : 

"What sinners value, I resign: 
Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine ; 



i .WLiLi 



HIS DEATH. 107 

I shall behold thy blissful face, 
And stand complete in righteousness. 

"This life's a dream, an empty show; 
But the bright world to which I go 
Hath joys substantial and sincere; 
When shall I wake and find me there? 

" glorious hour ! blest abode ! 
I shall be near and like my God I 
And flesh and sin no more control 
The sacred pleasures of the soul. 

" My flesh will slumber in the ground 
Till the last trumpet's joyful sound ; 
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise, 
And in my Saviour's image rise." 

At about six o'clock the same morning, he ex- 
pired, at the age of thirty-eight years and ten 
months.* 

At his funeral, which was attended on the follow- 
ing Sabbath by a large concourse of people, and by 
a number of ministers, a discourse was preached 
from Philip. 1 : 21 ; " For to me to live is Christ, and 
to die is gain." In the afternoon another minister 
preached from Ezek. 22 : 30 ; " And I sought for a 
man among them, that should make up the hedge, 

• Two pupils had the month before entered his school, viz.: 
John Mitchell, Sept. 6, "to give a dollar per week for board, to 
make some proper allowance for wood and candles in winter be- 
sides, and to be schooled after the rate of £5 per annum;" and 
Caleb Cooper, Sept. 13, who " came to school again, to pay, for 
board and schooling, twenty pounds per annum." 



108 MEMORIALS. 

and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I 
should not destroy it: but I found none." 

On a large slab over his grave are the following 
lines : 

" Beneath this tomb the precious reliques lie 
Of one too great to live, but not to die : 
Indued by nature with superior parts 
To swim in science and to scan the arts, 
To soar aloft, inflamed with sacred love, 
To know, admire, and serve the God above ; 
Gifted to sound the thundering law's alarm, 
The smiles of virtue, and the gospel's charm : 
A faithful watchman, studious to discharge 
The important duties of his weighty charge. 
To say the whole, and sound the highest fame, 
He lived a Christian, and he died the same. 
A man so useful, from his people rent, 
His babes, the college, and tbe church lament." 

The next year, 1763, there was published a 
memoir of him at Woodbridge, New Jersey, in a 
pamphlet of about sixty pages, of which two or 
three copies are yet in print. Mr. White, some 
years ago, was at the pains to make a manuscript 
copy of it, from which our quotations have been 
drawn. 

In the settlement of Mr. Smith's estate, his widow 
received in "goods and money given by will," 
£102 ; for " her third of the land sold by vendue," 
£37 ; upon which, it being under lease, a charge 
was made of £13 for " new tenor money." This 
conveyance included " all her goods she brought " at 



REV. AZEL EOF. 109 

her marriage, now valued at £89. Parishioners in 
arrears for rates had to settle, by note or payment, 
with the executors, of whom Joseph Riggs was the 
one on whom the business chiefly devolved.* 

His library was sold at auction. A part of the 
books were purchased by Mrs. Smith, and a part 
by Rev. Azel Roe, a young clergyman who studied 
theology with Mr. S., and who, the next year, 
(1763) married the widow, and was settled atWood- 
bridge.f 

Thus ended a ministry of fourteen years — a short 

° See " Caleb Smith's Book of Accounts." On page 110 there 
is a charge made by the executors,, in an account with Mrs. Smith, 
for butter received of Deacon Thompson. We find no other men- 
tion of this officer. 

t Dr. Roe preached at Woodbridge till his death, in 1815. He 
was twenty-nine years a trustee of the College of New Jersey ; 
was a member of the First General Assembly, in 1789, and moder- 
ator of that body in 1802. His zeal for American freedom was 
such, that in the war of the Revolution the British and Tories plan- 
ned his capture, and with McKnight of Shrewsbury, he was carried 
away a prisoner. In fording a stream, the officer who seized him, 
and who treated him with great politeness, insisted on carrying 
him over. He consented, and as he was crossing on the officer's 
shoulders, he observed— for he was a man of ready wit — " Well, 
sir. if never before, you can say after this that you were once priest- 
ridden." The joke so convulsed the officer with laughter, that he 
came near letting him fall into the stream. — Spragueh Annals. 
Mrs. Roe, by her second marriage, became the mother of two sons 
and six daughters. Apollos, the son of Mr. Smith, i: on reaching 
manhood, went to the South, and was never heard of by his 
friends." — Webster. 

6 



110 SERMONS PUBLISHED. 

introduction to one higher, more glorious, and eter- 
nal. 

Two productions of his pen were published ; an 
"Exhortation to the people," delivered at Con- 
necticut Farms, in 1750, at the ordination and set- 
tlement of Daniel Thane ; and the funeral sermon 
of President Burr, 1757. 



CHAPTER V. 
REV. JEDEDIAH CHAPMAN. 

AYEAE passed. In December, 1763, a messen- 
ger from the Mountain Society was on his way 
to Bethlehem, Connecticut, bearing two letters to 
Rev. Joseph Bellamy.* The first, dated the 23d, was 
written by Rev. Alexander McWhorter, then four 
years a pastor in Newark, and contained the fol- 
lowing : "I have here wrote you by the bearer, at 
the appointment of the Presbytery, in behalf of the 
church of Newark Mountains, and I hope, sir, you'll 
recommend them to some young man whom you 
esteem for bis knowledge of the truth ; and don't 
send us one of your Antinomians or Arminians, 
neither send us any of your Sandemanians ; we 
hear you have several such in New England, but I 
am apprehensive very few of them thoroughly un- 
derstand Sandeman's scheme. I thank you, sir ; for 
the few remarks you have given us upon this in- 

° See the Bellamy correspondence, Pres. His. Soc, Phila. 



112 LETTERS TO DR. BELLAMY. 

genious and subtle writer. . .The messenger is in 
haste." 

Six days later, December 29, Mr. Joseph M. 
White wrote from Danbury, Connecticut: "The 
bearer of these are in pursuit of a candidate. They 
are from Newark Mountains; probably you are 
acquainted with that place, and what sort of man 
would be like to do good among them. In that 
country they insist very much on a man's being a 
good speaker, and they hate the New England 
tone (as they call it) ; they insist likewise upon 
one that is apt to be familiar. But most of all, 'tis 
necessary that a man be a man of religion and good 
principles, in order to be useful among them. They 
seem to be a kind, curtious people, and willing to 
support the ministry." The results of the journey 
and the recommendations are not known. 

A year later, Mr. Bellamy was again addressed : 

Newark, Dec. 19, 1764. 
" Kev'd Sir : — The church at Newark Mountains 
have represented to us their very unanimous desire 
to obtain Mr. Daniel Hopkins to settle with them 
in the gospel ministry, for which they have desired 
our approbation and assistance. We therefore do 
earnestly desire that you, sir, would use your influ- 
ence with Mr. Hopkins to return; assuring him 
that we not only concur with the people, but are 
very solicitous he may listen to their call. 'Tis a 



DANIEL HOPKINS. 113 

church we esteem of great importance, and hope 
there may be much service done here to the Ee- 
deemcr's kingdom. And they seem so hopely 
[happily ?] united in Mr. Hopkins, that we think 
the door is effectually opened to him. We doubt 
not you will engage his worthy brother and your 
other brethren to favor the call of the church, who, 
as well as we, place much dependence on your in- 
terest. And as we are not particularly acquainted 
with your constitution, we desire that you would 
act for us, if any application to the association be 
necessary, that he may come in a regular way. 

We are, Eev'd Sir, with due respect, your 
hearty friends and fellow-servants. 

By the order and in behalf of the Presbytery, 
James Caldwell, 
Alex'r McWhorter." 

Mr. Hopkins was then a licentiate, in feeble 
health, so that he divided his time between manual 
labor, travelling, and occasional preaching. The 
state of his health probably caused him to decline 
the offered settlement.* 

* Dr. Hopkins went two years later to Salem, Mass., where, 
after teaching and preaching for twelve years, he was settled in 
the pastoral office, and died in 1814, in the 81st year of his age. 
His abilities and patriotism led to his election, in 1*775, as a mem- 
ber of the Provincial Congress. His theological sentiments were 
those of his brother Samuel, with whom he pursued his ministe- 
rial studies, and to whose writings he was an acknowledged con- 
tributor. He was thirty years of age when invited to this church. 






114 MR. 

For another year and a half the mountain flock 
were without a shepherd. The Chief Shepherd was 
putting their lessons of faith in exercise. In due 
time his care was manifest. 

On the 10th of April, 1766, Eev. James Caldwell, 
of Elizabethtown, wrote to Mr. Bellamy : " Yester- 
day Mr. Chapman was examined for ordination, 
and received parts of trial. His answers were well 
accepted. He did honor to his tutor and his senti- 
ments. The Presbytery were highly pleased. The 
congregation at Newark Mountains are much satis- 
fied, except in his delivery and something as to the 
manner, particularly the management of his voice, 
and his dwelling rather too long upon one thing, 
which is, or seems like, repetition. I should not 
write this, only I know you are his friend and may 
befriend him. We love him much." 

This was Jedediah Chapman, a theological pupil 
(we suppose) of Bellamy. He was born in East 
Haddam, Connecticut, September 27, 1741 ; being 
a descendant in the sixth generation of Hon. Eobert 
Chapman, of Hull, England, who came to America 
in 1635, and settled at Say brook. Graduating at 
Yale, in 1762, he received license two years after- 
wards, and having preached here as a candidate in the 
spring of 1766, was ordained and settled over the 
church on the 22d of July. The call was not unani- 
mous, but the field had now been vacant almost four 
years, and we can easily credit the statement that the 



HIS MARRIAGE. 115 

congregation generally were "much satisfied" at 
seeing in their pulpit again a youthful, energetic, 
and promising pastor. He was neither Antinomian, 
Arminian, nor Sandemanian; his oratory, though 
it did not escape criticism, proved acceptable ; and 
though bred a Congregationalist, he was to do a 
work for the Presbyterian church, and to bequeath 
to it a posterity that would place his name upon 
its records among the fathers. 

He entered the parish in his twenty-fifth year, 
unmarried, and poor. We make the latter state- 
ment on the authority of tradition, which represents 
that the attention of his parishioners was at first 
divided somewhat between the wants of his ward- 
robe and the word that he preached. It was enough, 
however, that he was clothed with salvation. They 
could furnish the rest. 

About the second year after his settlement, he 
entered into matrimonial relations, and the stone 
parsonage was again the minister's home. The 
lady he married was Miss Blanche Smith, a Hu- 
guenot on her mother's side, and of a family that 
intermarried with the Adamses of Massachusetts. He 
had by this marriage three children, viz. : William 
Smith, Robert Hett, and John Hobert, the last 
dying (April 30, 1773) at the age of ten weeks and 
four days. The others are still remembered as ju- 
venile associates by some of our aged citizens.* 

* Robert Hett Chapman, born at Orange, March 2, 177L, gradu- 



116 WANT OF SUPPORT. 

Mr. Chapman had not long been settled and mar- 
ried, before he began to be straitened in his means 
of support. Writing to his friend, Dr. Bellamy, in 
April, 1772, he said : "I have been on the very point 
of breaking with this people on the account of their 
withholding my support,* but this seems to be in 

ated at the College of New Jersey in 1789, received license in 
1793, and after an extensive missionary tour in the Southern States, 
in which he labored several months without compensation, was set- 
tled at Railway, in 1796. In 1811 he was elected President of the 
University of North Carolina. He entered upon the duties of the 
presidency the next year, and discharged them till 1817, to the 
great advantage of the institution. At the time of his death, June 
18, 1833, he was a pastor in Tennessee. The degree of Doctor of 
Divinity was given him by Williams' College, in 1815. He mar- 
ried Hannah Arnette, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and had a 
family of twelve children, of whom seven survived him. Among 
them is Rev. Robert H. Chapman, D. D., of Asheville, N. C. — 
Sprague s Annals, 4, 95. 

* Bellamy, in 1764, had been in the same condition. In appeal- 
ing to his society for relief, he reminded them of a declaration 
made by him twenty-four years before, when their call was before 
him : " I do not intend, if I should be a minister, to work for my 
living, or quarrel for my living. I am not willing to settle in the 
work of the ministry, unless I may give myself wholly to it, and I 
fear you are not able to maintain a minister." To which their 
committee replied : " It is just such a minister we would have, and 
do you settle among us and you shall never want." Now, he re- 
minds them of the straits and difficulties he went through for 
many years, when they were very poor. The appeal resulted in a 
pledge of " £80 lawful money, to be paid in money at or before the 
12th day of March, annually : " and " sufficient firewood, in the 
same manner we have done in years past." 

About the same time, (1768,) Samuel Hopkins, of Great Barring- 



REVIVALS. 117 

some measure got over now." The excellent char- 
acter given them by Mr. White, of Danbury, had to 
be taken, it would appear, with some allowance. 
We may infer, however, that the delinquency was 
not general, nor of long continuance. In the same 
letter he wrote : " My people seem to be in a very 
languid state in religious respects, though of late 
there seem to be more promising appearances. 
There has been a considerable revival of religion 
at Elizabethtown. Our college also has been visited 
again in a remarkable manner by the spirit of God, 
which I understand has been general — in which, I 
am informed, God has improved Mr. Bradford as 
an instrument of great good to the boys. I have 
had a very pressing invitation to visit them, which 
I hope to have it speedily in my power to comply 
with. Mr. Edwards' sentiments make surprising 
progress there." * 

ton, wrote to Bellamy : " There is no prospect of my being main- 
tained by my people. I must go to farming, or leave them. But 
where shall I go ? Where is there a clergyman who is well main- 
tained ? Where, then, is there a congregation that will maintain 
me ? Let such an one be found, where there is a prospect of use- 
fulness, and I am ready to go. I have a great aversion to go into 
worldly cares, but begin to suspect I am called to it." 

* It was otherwise in Scotland, to which (as we learn from the 
letter quoted in the preceding note) Hopkins sent, in 1167, 
Edwards' Life, Sermons, and Dissertations, by the desire of a Mr. 
Hogg. This gentleman dying before the books arrived, they had 
no sale, and were sent back with forty shillings cost. "I am told 
few of the impression have gone off. Mr. Kneeland's house is full 
of them, which must soon be sold for waste paper." 
6* 






118 DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 

Four months later (Aug. 14) he seat a letter to 
Bellamy by a "Mr. Perriam, who was formerly 
a tutor at Princetown college ; " introducing him 
as " a very ingenious young gentleman, I trust a 
truly pious and humble Christian, one whom I 
greatly love and esteem — a steady, zealous friend 
to truth. He comes with a design to spend some 
time in the study of divinity with you, and I trust 
that on acquaintance with him you will be pleased 
to think it of great importance to encourage and 
forward him." He also hoped that Bellamy 
would think it a matter of no small importance to 
abridge and reprint his treatise on True Eeligion. 
" We have our hearts (said he) much set upon it." * 

This correspondence favors the opinion that he 
had himself studied with the distinguished Con- 
necticut divine. 

But a discipline of another kind now awaited 
him. On the 21st of November, 1773, a few 
months after the decease of their infant son, Mrs. 
Chapman was removed by death, in her 29th year. 
The parsonage was again a house of mourning. A 
double sorrow had fallen upon the heart of the 
young pastor. By the hand of the engraver it was 
stereotyped for posterity to read in the following 
lines : 

For thee in death, thou one so dear, 
Each common friend will drop a tear, 
* Between the dates of these letters (July 12, 1*772) died Joseph 
Peck, the senior elder and deacon of the church, at the age of 70. 






SECOND MARRIAGE. 119 

But what can ease, what can heal 
Pangs which a kinder husband feel, 
When thus the young, his joy, the just, 
Consume and moulder into dust ? 
Those balsams Faith alone can give, 
Which tells us that the dead shall live, 
That Death his conquest shall restore, 
The just shall meet and part no more. 

The ministers of Jesus need affliction. How 
shall they lead others to springs of consolation from 
which themselves have never drawn ? And. so the 
Master sends them forth, as He went often Himself, 
weeping — sowing in tears that they may reap in joy> 
Mr. Chapman, like his two predecessors, saw the 
wife of his young affections laid in an early grave. 

His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Dr. 
Peter Le Conte, of Middletown, Conn, This lady, 
who was slightly his senior in years, adorned to a 
good old age the station she was called to fill. She 
came to it at a critical time. The first notes of 
American independence were sounding. She was 
to share not only the anxieties of the pastor, but 
the perils of the patriot* 

8 The date of their marriage is not known to the writer. Their 
children were Peter Le Conte (born Jan. 8, 1718); John Thomas 
(born April 24, 1779) ; Valeria Maria (born Feb. 23, 1784). The 
first, who became a lawyer, dropped the name of Chapman to pre- 
serve the name of his mother. He had three sons and four daugh- 
ters, but his sons are dead, leaving no children to perpetuate the 
name. Mrs. Chapman died at Geneva, Sept. 9, 1812— the autumn 
before her husband's death — in her 74th year. 









120 SAMtJEL BARRISON 



Just at this time an aged man of the parish, with 
whose name the reader is familiar, closed the con- 
flicts of a long life. We refer to Samuel Harrison. 
Born in 1684, half a life-time before the parish had 
a separate existence, he had seen its beginning and 
aided its growth. On the 6th of April, 1748, when 
he was sixtj^-four years of age, and when the first 
pastor of the church, several years his junior, had 
just been buried, he set his house in order for his 
own departure by making his will. Yet he lived 
to follow another pastor to his grave at the end of 
fourteen years, and was not followed to his own 
rest till yet another fourteen was added. On the 
15th of September, 1776, when a national contest 
was taking the place of that land controversy in 
which he had been a somewhat conspicuous actor, 
at the age of almost ninety -three, he passed awa}^ 
It was twenty-eight years after the making of his 
will, in which, after the distribution of his real 
estate betwen his sons Amos, Samuel, and Mat- 
thew, he gave to the second-named a yoke of 
oxen, ahorse, and his young riding mare; "also 
a horse colt one year old." We may doubt 
whether even the yearling lived to be interested in 
the execution of the will. The " team tackling," 
given to Samuel and Matthew, u to be equally 
divided, as they do agree," could hardly have fur- 
nished by this time any occasion of strife. As to 
the " pale white brindle cow with white head,'' 



DANGERS GATHERING. 121 

given to " Jane Bunel," and another brindle cow 
devised to Abigail Shores, " with two suits of ap- 
parel, one for Sabbath-day, and one for every-day 
wear, with a Dutch spinning-wheel and a Bible, to 
her and her heirs and assigns forever, as a reward 
for her service," these tokens of grateful remem- 
brance and benevolent forecast (the Bible excepted) 
must have proved of small avail to the legatees, 
supposing them still alive. A blind providence is 
man's ! But it is more commonly death, and not 
life, that deranges his plans and disappoints his 
good intentions.* 

In the revolutionary struggle, Mr. Chapman 
espoused warmly the American cause. His bold- 
ness in defending the Be volution made enemies of 
those who opposed it, and more than once were 
plans laid for conveying him to the British camp. 
Soldiers were sent to his house to capture him, but, 
more fortunate than Boe and McKnight, his minis- 
terial compatriots, he eluded them. Freedom's 
sentinels were around him to give a timely signal 
when danger was seen, and under the shield of 
that Providence which favored our country's arms, 

® A number of persons have attained to great longevity in this 
parish. Samuel Harrison reached his 93d year. His sister Elea- 
nor, (Mrs. Ebenezer Lindsley,) lived to 100 years and two months. 
His son Samuel (above named, and who lived unmarried) reached 
his 92 d year. Mrs. Martha, widow of Jedediah Freeman, died in 
1831, in her 100th year. Several members of the church now 
living are almost ninety, 



122 THE REVOLUTION. 

lie received no harm. Yet he was obliged several 
times to flee the parish, — seeking a temporary asy- 
lum behind the mountains, as did many of the 
families who composed his flock. 

In November, 1776, the American army under 
Washington, then reduced to three thousand five 
hundred men, and fast diminishing, was retreating 
through New Jersey. Crossing the Passaic at Ac- 
quackonoc Bridge, it came down the river to New- 
ark, and there rested six days, till threatened by 
Cornwallis, who was on its track. As it left New- 
ark, the place was entered by a British force of six 
thousand men. 

The whole vicinity was now traversed by for- 
aging parties and troops sent out for plunder. The 
Hessians were particularly dreaded for their merci- 
less depredations and cruelties. A company of 
those mercenaries came in this direction from 
Bloomfleld. A few of the party, riding in ad- 
vance, promised protection to such of the inhabi- 
tants as should remain in their houses. If the 
people fled, as many did, they afterward returned 
to find their houses and farmyards thoroughly 
stripped. Nor were the plunderers over scrupu- 
lous to discriminate between friends and foes. 

The following incidents are yet remembered. A 
Mr. James Jones, of Bloomfleld, hearing of the 
approach of the British army, loaded hastily his 
wagon with such articles as were most valuable, and 



A SKIRMISH.' 123 

was about starting for the mountain with his family, 
when the enemy came upon him. The captured 
family were taken to New York, where they re- 
mained till the end of the war. They afterward 
went to Nova Scotia. 

Cornelius Jones, a brother of the man just named, 
was living near " the Junction," (East Orange,) 
where his son, Mr. Cyrus Jones, yet resides. His 
house was plundered, and his hogs and cattle taken 
by the Hessians, the family having temporarily left 
the premises. 

After their return, a skirmish occurred a little 
east of their residence, on the hill by Judge John 
Peck's, between several Highlanders and three 
Americans, whose names were John Wright, John 
Tichenor, and Joshua Shaw. Wright and his 
party having muskets, while the others had only 
swords, ordered the latter to lay down their weap- 
ons. This was done, but as the men with the mus- 
kets came within reach, the swords were dexterously 
caught again and laid upon them with bloody effect. 
The captors were now the vanquished, and were 
left upon the ground badly wounded, while the 
Highlanders retreated to the army. It was about 
noon. The same afternoon a company of the ene- 
my returned. They came to the house of Mr. 
Jones in search of "the three rebels," whom his 
nephew, Moses Jones, had in the meantime taken 
upon a sled and removed to their homes in the 



124 THE BRITISH IN OKANGE, 

present neighborhood of Hikers store, Doddtown. 
Not finding them at the house, they set a guard 
over Mrs. Jones, while they took her husband to 
the barn to renew the search. As they were thus 
engaged, the nephew returned with his team and 
sled, which was covered with the blood of the 
wounded men. The affair ended in the two Joneses 
going to Newark as prisoners. They were released 
the following day. The uncle was afterward in the 
battle of Springfield, where he narrowly escaped 
death by a cannon ball. 

A division of the American army, as it receded 
from the approach of Cornwallis, is said to have 
passed through Orange. Turning down the road 
now known as Scotland street, it was just out of 
sight when a detachment of the enemy appeared. 
Two men from over the mountain were coming 
into the village. The British officer in command 
inquired of them if the American troops had passed 
that way. Being answered in the affirmative, he 
asked if they were a numerous force. " Yes," said 
one of the mountaineers, " the woods in that direc- 
tion are full of them." Fearing an ambuscade, the 
officer desisted from pursuit. 

The British force then encamped in the old bury- 
ing-ground. Two boys — Adonijah Harrison and 
David Lyon — who lived up the valley near " Tory 
Corner,"* resolved upon having a sight of the en- 

* This place received its designation from a number of families 



III 



TWO YOUNG ADVENTUKEKS. 125 

campment. So passing across the swamp and over 
the hill where St. John's (Catholic) church now 
stands, they had just leaped the fence which di- 
vided the forest from an open field, when they 
found themselves in alarming proximity to some 
soldiers who were lounging on the grass. " Oh ! 
oh !" exclaimed the boys, while a mischievous sol- 
dier added to their fright by discharging a pistol. 
Prudence now prevailed over curiosity. Scram- 
bling over the fence with all conceivable agility, 
they ran homeward for dear life, quite cured of the 
disposition for martial adventure. 

The mountainous range that divides the town- 
ship cf Orange was the limit of the enemy's incur- 
sions in this direction. Behind it large numbers 
of the exposed inhabitants took refuge, with such 
property as they were able to remove.* The 
mountain also served another purpose. A tall tree 
which now lifts itself conspicuously above the line 
of its summit, is said to mark the spot where tele- 
graphic signals with ISTew York were given and 
received. 

who then resided in that vicinity. Many worthy and excellent peo- 
ple were conscientiously opposed to the straggle for independence. 
Some of them left the country during the war, suffering the confis- 
cation of their property as the penalty of their principles. Others 
finally gave in their adhesion to the new government. 

* Those who remained at their homes obtained a "protection " 
— as it was called — from the British officers, as persons friendly to 
their cause. 



126 THE MOUNTAIN SENTINELS. 

From the top of the mountain the movements of 
the enemy were carefully watched. Sometimes the 
latter from the opposite side of the valley, would 
also discover the reconnoitering party, and salute 
them with a well aimed discharge of their artillery. 
On one occasion, when Captain Jonathan Conclit 
and his company were thus keeping watch on the 
hill-top, some shots from the old burying-ground 
swept through the forest quite near them. "Con- 
sarn it" exclaimed Capt. Jonathan, " how careless 
the fellows do shute /* The captain and his broth- 
ers David, John, and Daniel, lived in the valley 
between the first and second mountains. His neph- 
ew, Dr. John Condit, was a surgeon in Washing- 
ton's army, and afterwards a member of Congress. 

The drafts made upon the Newark militia from 
time to time took many from their farms in this 
part of the town. An order, dated Newark, Aug. 
29, 1777, and signed by Samuel Hayes, was ad- 
dressed to Captain Williams, or the officer com- 
manding in his absence, to detach his proportion of 
men to relieve those on duty there, whose month 

* From what is said of him, we suppose this Yankee impreca- 
tion was about the nearest approach to profanity of which he was 
capable. He was a conscientious church-goer, and in his old age. 
being poor, and having no vehicle but an ox-cart, he and his wife 
rode regularly to church in that. But not caring to show it, he 
would stop as he entered the village, hitch his cattle to a tree, 
(which stood in front of Mr. Patterson's present residence in Main 
street, ) and thence walk to the house of God. 



( I 



DRAFTS AND FINES. 127 

was just expiring ; also to meet, with his subal- 
terns, " at the house of Captain Pierson, to-morrow 
at three o'clock P. M., to appoint officers for said 
detachment ;" the same " to be marched into this 
town on Sunday, at three o'clock P. M." 

There were some — tories of course — upon whom 
these orders were ineffectual. " At a court-martial 
held at Newark Mountain, July 7, 1780, at the 
house of Samuel Munn, for the trial of several 
persons, soldiers in Col. Philip V. Cortlandt's regi- 
ment, Essex county militia, belonging to Capt- 
Thomas "Williams' company, being charged for 
disobeying orders and not turning out on their 
proper tour of duty the 20th day of June last, and 
on the alarm the 23d of June, and for desertion ; 
agreeably to an act of the Governor, Council and 
General Assembly in that case made and provided, 
entitled an act for the more effectual defence of the 
State in case of invasion or incursion of the ene- 
my :" the court having met, according to order, 
found three persons guilty of the above charges, 
and unanimously agreed to fine them in the fol- 
lowing sums : Jonathan Williams, £500 ; Charles 
Crane, £200 ; Joseph Tomkins, £3 15s. The pre- 
siding officer was Captain Josiah Pierson, the other 
members of the court being Captains Thomas Wil- 
liams, Isaac Gillam, Henry Jarolaman ; Lieuten- 
ants Henry Squier, John Edwards ; Ensigns Rem- 
ington Parcel, Thomas Baldwin, Ralph Post. 



128 FIGURES SOMETIMES LIE. 

The reader may think the cause was not likely 
to suffer much by derelictions so dearly paid for. 
But the adage that " figures do not lie." has its 
falsifications in our Revolutionary history. By the 
act of June 9, 1780, about a month before these 
penalties were laid, the legislature had estimated 
the currency of the State " at the rate of one 
Spanish milled dollar in lieu of forty dollars of the 
bills now in circulation." During the winter of 
that year, while the army lay at Morristown, Gen- 
erals Washington, Green, Knox, and others, sub- 
scribed for the expenses of a" dancing assembly " 
at the rate of $400 (equal to $10) apiece. So de- 
preciated was the currency, as stated by the officers 
of the Jersey line in a memorial addressed by them 
to the Legislature, " that four months' pay of a 
soldier would not procure for his family a single 
bushel of wheat ;" and " the pay of a colonel 
would not purchase oats for his horse." These 
facts will correct any extravagant opinion the 
reader may have formed of the atonement ren- 
dered by the above delinquents. 

A contest so nearly approaching the character 
of a civil war must have been highly disastrous to 
the churches. This was peculiarly the case in 
those parts of the country in which, as in New 
Jersey, the heat of the excitement was most intense* 
Friends were made enemies, families were divided, 
brother rose against brother, those who had walked 



EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 129 

together in loving fellowship met as foes on the 
battle-field, or were identified with hostile camps. 
The patriot whose prayers were with the Ameri- 
can army, was denounced as a rebel and his cap- 
ture sought by some neighbor, now a refugee under 
the British flag. The honest refugee was in turn 
denounced as a traitor, whose blood it would be a 
virtue to shed. The tragic fate of Stephen Ball is 
yet remembered, who having carried four quarters 
of beef to the British encampment on Staten Island, 
under a general promise of safety to all who would 
bring supplies to the army, was seized by a band 
of bloody-hearted refugees, taken across to Bergen 
Point, and hung with ten minutes' grace, the mur- 
derers having tried in vain to effect his arrest by 
the British officers. 

The end of the war was the auspicious beginning 
of a new and happier era. 

This occurred in 1782. The country was full of 
rejoicing, and no class of its citizens hailed the event 
with heartier joy than the ambassadors of a gospel 
of peace. With what thankfulness did they see 
their scattered flocks returning, and the stir and 
strife of arms succeeded by quiet industry and peace- 
ful worship ! 

Mr. Chapman had seen the hearts of his people 
bitterly alienated from each other, and many of them 
from himself, by the war. The issue of it was, 
however, in his favor. God's arm had been mani- 



130 LIBERTY AND THE CLERGY. 

festlj outstretched to give victory to the cause 
which he had boldly vindicated. Certain members 
of the parish, who, during the war, had refused to 
identify themselves with what they viewed as a re- 
bellion, now, that the fact of independence was 
established, took the oath of allegiance to the new 
government. 

The voices of the clergy on the subject of free- 
dom did not cease to be heard when the cause was 
won. As they had stimulated the patriotism of 
their countrymen, and invoked the aid of Provi- 
dence, during the struggle, so they now contributed 
to enlighten the people as to the nature of true 
liberty, and the way to preserve and perpetuate it. 
Among no class of professional men were public 
speakers more sought, or more ready to take a lead- 
ing part in patriotic celebrations. Mr. Chapman 
"played the orator" on many such occasions.* On 
almost any Fourth of July, he might have been 
seen with the military and civic procession, as it 

* It is less common now, as there is less need, for ministers o 
the Gospel to perform such an office. The writer has done it 
twice ; in his native town (while preparing for the ministry) in 
1843, and at Orange, in 1859. On the last occasion he addressed 
from three to four hundred citizens, mostly native residents, in 
Library Hall, several of the clergy of the place being present. 
"The Christian's prayer for his Country" was effectively sung by 
the choir of the day. Prayer is a proper element of patriotism, 
and, it is hoped, will ever accompany, as it yet does, the exercises 
of our national celebration. 






PARISH INCORPORATED. 131 

moved from the Common, along the main road, 
toward the meeting-house, to the sound of fife and 
drum ; and often did he stand at Eeligion's altar to 
lead the devotions of Christian freemen, when the 
task of expounding their liberties, and fanning the 
patriotic flame, was assigned to others. There are 
men yet with us who remember those occasions, 
and who received, at his lips, some of their earliest 
lessons of political wisdom. In the division of 
parties that followed the war, he was known as a 
Federalist. 

Measures were soon taken to incorporate the 
parish, which had now been organized more than 
sixty years without a charter ; its property being 
held in trust by private individuals, for the benefit 
of the congregation. The Legislature, then held at 
Burlington, being petitioned on the subject, passed 
an act, June 11, 1783, incorporating Joseph Riggs, 
Esq., John Range, Doctor Matthias Pierson, Stephen 
Harrison, Jun., Samuel Pierson, Jun., Samuel Dodd, 
and John Dodd, a Board of Trustees, the church 
now receiving the name of "The Second Presby- 
terian Church in Newark." Their tenure of office 
was perpetual, and, in case of vacancies, by death 
or removal, the power of appointing their succes- 
sors was conferred upon the " minister or ministers, 
elders and deacons of the church." The power 
also extended to the displacement of a trustee, 
whenever the said minister or ministers, elders and 



132 OATH OF TRUSTEES. 

deacons, or the majority of them, should judge his 
removal proper and for the benefit of the corpora- 
tion. The trustees were required to be persons of 
the congregation, and the number was limited by 
the statute to seven. 

Each trustee, in assuming office, took the follow- 
ing oaths: 1. I do solemnly swear I do not hold 
myself bound to bear allegiance to the King of 
Great Britain. 2. I do solemnly profess and swear 
that I do and will bear true faith and allegiance to 
the Government established in this State, under the 
authority of the people. 3. An oath to execute 
well and truly the duty of a trustee, agreeably to 
the true intent and meaning of the charter. It was 
a three-fold cord, not easily broken, and which 
shielded the important trust from all suspicion of 
disloj^alty to freedom. The charter required these 
oaths to be taken and subscribed by " each and 
every of the trustees herein appointed, and their 
successors ;" agreeably to "an Act for the security 
of the Government of New Jersey," passed Sep- 
tember 19, 1776. 

The trustees being duly qualified before John 
Peck, Esq., at the parsonage house, the 22d of Sep- 
tember, organized by appointing Joseph Riggs pres- 
ident, and John Range clerk. Mr. Riggs " de- 
livered in a book, formerly the property of the 
Rev. Caleb Smith, in order for the trustees to keep 
their accounts in ;" and the charter was carefully 



OKAJSTGE SLOOP. 138 

copied into the same by the Clerk. The President 
of the Board removed to New York the same 
autumn, when Jonathan Hedden was elected his 
successor. 

This charter, which gave the whole appointing 
power to the Church session, (for the deacons were 
at that time venerable select men within the elder- 
ship,) proved unacceptable to the people. Its lead- 
ing provision was not in harmony with the spirit 
of the times. In consequence of the " great un- 
easiness and dissatisfaction" which it occasioned, 
the Legislature, agreeably to a petition of the con- 
gregation, so amended it, June 3, 1790, as to make 
" all regular supporters of the Gospel in said con- 
gregation" electors in the appointment of trustees. 
The election was to be made annually, on the sec- 
ond Thursday in April, by a plurality of voices.* 
The charter of the parent church received a similar 
amendment four years afterward. We see in these 
changes, the gradual working and extension of 
the principle of popular suffrage — a principle which, 
apparently, has not yet reached the limit of its ex- 
pansion in our national system. 

In the course of the year 1784, the project of 
the " Orange Sloop" was formed. The plan was, 
to buy or build a boat, to be used for the benefit of 
the parish, running from Newark to Albany and 

* The time was changed, in 1829, to the first day of January, 
and in 1856, to the second Monday in April. 



134 ORANGE ACADEMY. 

other ports. Subscriptions for the purpose having 
been circulated, it was resolved, at a parish meeting, 
to build a boat, for which a committee of three 
managers was chosen. The craft was, in due 
time, launched upon its useful mission, the parish 
receiving one-third of the profits. The income 
from this source was from forty to sixty pounds a 
year. 

Closely following this enterprise was another, of 
more vital and lasting importance to the parish. 
This was the founding of a public school, long 
known as the Orange Academy. Incipient meas- 
ures were taken at a meeting of the parish, of 
which Deacon Bethuel Pierson was Moderator, held 
in April, 1785. Mr. Chapman, Doctor John Con- 
dit, Doctor Matthias Pierson, and four others, were 
appointed a committee to select the location and 
obtain subscriptions. A site — one-tenth of an acre — 
was obtained of Matthew Conclit. In the follow- 
ing January, the same three persons, with Josiah 
Hornblower, Esq., and Bethuel Pierson, were chosen 
trustees. A substantial two-story building of brick 
and stone was put up, in which a parochial school 
of high grade was soon in successful operation. 
Mr. Chapman's name uniformly headed the list of 
trustees, who were appointed annually, and his love 
for sound learning, as well as sound doctrine, made 
him an efficient patron of the institution, The 
building, which has passed to other uses, is yet 



watts' psalmody. 135 

standing, in good condition, on Main street, oppo- 
site the church. 

At the annual meeting of the parish, in January, 
1785, " a move was made by Mr. Samuel Pierson, 
that there were not a sufficient number of musical 
clerks for the convenience of public worship ;" and 
" it was agreed to by the major part, that Nathaniel 
Crane, John Dodd, Jim., Aaron Mumi and Joseph 
AVard, shall assist in that office." The custom still 
continued of reading the lines as the psalm was sung. 

Watts' psalmody was now in use. The time of 
its introduction is not known. As early as 1763, 
" sundry members and congregations," within the 
bounds of the Synod, had adopted it, and the Synod 
had " no objection to the use of said imitation by 
such ministers and congregations as incline to use 
it, until the matter of psalmody be further con- 
sidered." The subject was renewed in that body 
several years without any decisive action upon it. 

In the old society of Newark there was, in the 
year 1784, " the commencement of a very great and 
lasting revival of religion." It was a pleasing re- 
action from the sad condition of things produced 
by the war — a troubled sea in which the piety and 
hopes of large numbers of supposed Christians had 
foundered. More than a hundred souls, according 
to Dr. Griffin, were, by this awakening, added to 
that church, the heavenly influence spreading till it 
pervaded the whole community. It can scarcely 



136 CALDWELL CHURCH. 

be doubted that the congregation here received a 
refreshing from such a cloud. But as we have no 
record of admissions prior to 1786, it is only a sub- 
ject of conjecture. 

The coincidence is, however, to be noted, that 
simultaneously with that revival a new church 
sprang into life, which must have taken from this 
the larger portion of its constituent members. This 
was the church at Horseneck, about seven miles 
farther in the interior, which was organized by Mr. 
Chapman, the pastor of this church, December 3, 
1784. Forty persons united in its covenant. This 
movement favors the inference just stated, that the 
religious interest which was manifesting itself in 
Newark, was not confined to the banks of the Pas- 
saic. Eternal things were coming back to their 
place in the thoughts and feelings of the people 
through the settlements. In February, 1787, the 
new parish was incorporated "by the name and 
style of the First Presbyterian Church at Cald- 
well."* 

* This name is commemorative of Rev. James Caldwell, D. D., 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, and chaplain 
in the revolutionary army. He was shot, for reasons unknown, 
by an American sentinel, who was hung for the deed. His wife 
was shot through the window of her sitting-room, in the midst of 
her children, by a British soldier. Their granddaughter, the second 
wife of Rev. John E. Freeman, of Futtehgurh, India, was one of 
the martyr missionaries, in the great mutiny of 1857. She was 
shot upon the parade ground at Cawnpore. 



PARSONAGE LANDS. 137 

The reader is already informed of an endow- 
ment of two hundred acres of land, granted to the 
town of Newark, by the original proprietors, for 
ecclesiastical use. In process of time, as the civil 
and religious affairs of the town were separated, 
and new religious societies were formed, these lands 
became a source of much contention. The Moun- 
tain Society and the Episcopal Church demanded a 
division, claiming for themselves an equal share 
with the First Society. The latter had the legal 
title to sustain it in claiming the whole. From 
1760 onward, the subject was agitated in almost 
every town-meeting. Votes were passed, and then 
reversed, as the opposite parties happened to be in 
the majority. In March, 1761, " at a very full and 
public town-meeting," it was " voted and agreed 
that the said lands, granted by said letters patent 
to lie for a parsonage, be equally divided in quantity 
and quality, exclusive of the improvements made 
thereon, among said three societies or congrega- 
tions." Bethuel Pierson and five others were " ap- 
pointed agents to divide and allot said lands to 
said societies, and to apply to the Governor, Coun- 
cil and General Assembly, to confirm the same by 
a law." In this committee, those who represented 
the old society refused to act, and the trustees of 
that society entered their protest on the record. 
The measure was thus frustrated, and the strife 
prolonged. In 1784, the year of the revival, just 



138 THE NAME — ORANGE. 

noticed,* the animosity was quieted by a compro- 
mise, the new societies receiving a dividend of the 
lands, but holding them uuder lease, as tenants at 
will. In May of that year, a lease was given to 
the trustees of this parish of eighty-six acres and 
sixty-hundreths of an acre. 

The settlement near the mountain had begun, at 
this time, to assume the character of a village, and 
to be known by the name it now bears. By whom, 
or from what circumstance the name was first be- 
stowed, we have no means of ascertaining. The 
Presbytery of New York, as its records inform us, 
met at Orange Dale, in October, 1785. Two years 

* Not in 1786 or 1181, as given by Dr. Stearns, (p. 226,) on the 
authority of Dr. McWhorter. "We find the above date in an orig- 
inal paper, preserved by the trustees of this parish, from which, 
and other papers in their possession, we gather also the following 
facts, which may as well be presented here. The lease given " on 
or about the 10th of May, 1784,'' to be continued at will, was 
revoked by the Newark trustees, acting under instructions from 
that Society, May 20, 1197. The controversy was thus revived. 
In 1802, another conveyance was made, by lease, of fifty-six acres, 
lying between Newark and Orange, the terms of the lease being, 
that it should be renewed at the end of each twenty-one years, for 
ever ; the lessees paying an annual rent of sixpence, if demanded. 
It was accordingly renewed, in 1823. This was the only title the 
old Society could give under the original grant. But having, in 
1825, applied to the Legislature for a special act, enabling them to 
convey the land in fee simple, such an act was passed, and a deed 
of the said fifty-six acres was given to the Orange Society, August 
29, 1826, which ended the matter. The land has long ceased to 
be the property of the parish. 



SYNOD OF 1787. 139 

later an acre of ground, conveyed to the parish by 
Isaac Williams — "for £15, current money of New 
Jersey" — was described in the deed as "lying in 
the bounds of Newark, aforesaid, at a place called 
Orange. v It was bought for the parish by Matthew 
Pierson, in exchange for an acre taken by him from 
the parsonage lot. From that period we find the two 
names in apparent competition till 1806, when, the 
town of Orange being formed and christened by 
the authorities of the State, the village, now raised 
to metropolitan dignity, lost the romance of its 
name, if not its romantic surroundings. 

Nineteen years before this latter event, an im- 
portant dignity was conferred upon our village 
pastor. By the Synod of 1787 he was elected to 
preside over its proceedings. It was the last meet- 
ing of the Synod previous to the formation of the 
General Assembly. This appointment is evidence 
that Mr. Chapman had, at this time, won an honor- 
able and influential standing in the Presbyterian 
body. At the next convocation, when the Synod 
was about to be divided into four, under a higher 
and broader organization, he preached the opening 
sermon from Ephesians iv., 3, 4 — " Endeavoring to 
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace — 
there is one body." The discourse, which was 
published,* was an able and well-timed exhibition 

e Mr. Chapman published, also, five sermons on baptism. That 
preached before the Synod, with discourses by his son and grand- 



140 MR. 

of these points : That the church of Christ on earth 
is one body ; that there is a glorious foundation in 
the church of Christ for unity and peace; and, 
thirdly, some of the ways in which this unity is to 
be kept. 

The following passage in the sermon shows a 
catholic spirit, and contains a suggestion which has, 
since that time, been carried into effect in more 
ways than one : "I would beg leave just to suggest 
here, should some general plan of mutual inter- 
course, in brotherly love, with all the churches of 
Christ throughout the world, be formed and carried 
into execution, in the spirit of our text, whether it 
would not have a most happy tendency to heal the 
present divisions of the church, preserve the peace 
and unity of the body, and generally promote the 
prosperity and welfare of the common cause." 
This feeling, which was vigorously working and 
spreading, was, ere long, to give birth to those 
great cooperative measures which belong to the 
church history of the present century.* 

son, is preserved by the Pres. Hist. Society, in a small volume 
presented by the grandson. 

8 Mr. Chapman had then just taken part in forming the " So- 
ciety in Morris County, for the promotion of Learning and Relig- 
ion ;'' a humble pioneer of the education societies which have 
since sprung up. It received its charter in the latter part of May, 
1*787, about a week after Mr. C. was chosen to moderate the 
Synod. The first trustees were, Benjamin Howell, William Ross 
and Joseph Harrison, Esquires ; Jacob Green, Jedediah Chapman, 



TILLAGE. 141 

From the records kept by the Trustees of the 
parish during this period we select the following 
items : 

It was voted, January 12, 1786, that Stephen 
Harrison, Esq., do provide a good box or chest, with 
a lock, to contain the books and public writings 
belonging to this parish. 

March 12. Voted, that Cornelius Jones be paid 
four shillings a load for six loads of stone used at 
the parsonage well. Also, that any person getting 
stone on the parsonage lands allotted for this parish 
shall pay into the hands of Deacon Amos Baldwin, 
treasurer, the sum of one shilling the load. Also, 
that the old parsonage field may be plowed for a 
crop of buckwheat the ensuing summer, and that 
the parish receive every fifth bushel free from all 
expense, except some person will give more . 

October 12. Voted, that the buckwheat for the 

Amzi Lewis, Joseph Grover, David Baldwin, and Stephen Monson. 
This Society still exists, with a fund invested in the banks of New- 
ark and Orange, from which it has a revenue of nearly $300 per 
annum. Three young men are receiving aid from it, in prepara- 
tion for the ministry. The present trustees (the sole representa- 
tives of the Society) are, Rev. E. Seymour, Pres. ; Eev. J. M. 
Sherwood, Eev. J. S. Gallagher, Rev. John Ford, Rev. James 
Hoyt, Zophar B. Dodd, W. S. Baldwin, Charles R. Day, and John 
Provost. Five of the Board reside in Bloomfield, where its semi- 
annual meetings are usually held. The project of the Society is 
believed to have originated in the old Morris County Presbytery, 
(not now in existence,) which was organized on the union principle 
by Presbyterians and Congregationalisms. 
7* 



142 COLLECTING RATES. 

rent of the parsonage land is to be converted to the 
use of the whole parish. Also, that the price for 
the buckwheat shall be two shillings and sixpence 
per bushel. 

January 15, 1787. Voted, that the widow of 
"William Matthews have the care of opening the 
meeting-house and sweeping the same, and taking 
all the care respecting it that those formerly ap- 
pointed for that purpose had, for the sum of one 
pound two shillings and sixpence for three months. 

During the next year, John Tichenor received 
the sum of fourteen shillings for pulling down an 
old oven and building a new one in the parsonage. 
In the following year the " old parsonage field " was 
put again to buckwheat, the parish to have " every 
fourth bushel, if nobody will give more." 

In 1791, it was voted, that Aaron Munn do go 
through the parish and settle with all delinquents 
respecting Mr. Chapman's rates, and make report to 
the Board of Trustees ; for which service he was to 
have a reasonable compensation from the funds of 
the parish, agreeable to a vote of the same. In 
June of that year, Deacon Baldwin resigning the 
treasury, twenty shillings were voted to his daugh- 
ter Esther u for her services as treasurer for a num- 
ber of years." In November it appeared that Mr. 
Munn had spent six clays in collecting rates, for 
which he was rewarded in the sum of as many 
shillings per day, for "him and horse." 






KINGING BELL. 143 

It appears that some of the then acting board of 
trustees put an easy construction upon their oath 
of office; for in January, 1792, we find the board 
adjourning to meet again on the 30th of said month, 
at Samuel Munn's, at sundown, " on forfeiture of six 
pence." This little addition to the weight of official 
responsibility appears to have wrought the needed 
reform. At the clay and hour specified, the whole 
board was present 

The burying-ground was this year let out for 
pasture to Josiah Quinby at six shillings. It was 
also enlarged by the purchase of about two acres 
of ground from the executors of the estate of 
Simeon Ogden. The meeting-house and parsonage 
received repairs, the former being newly roofed. 

In 1795, Josiah Quinby was engaged to ring the 
bell through the year on Sabbath and lecture days 
for £3 10s; Bethuel Pierson to ring it at nine 
o'clock every evening, for £4 ; the widow Martha 
Davison "to sweep the meeting-house and keep it 
clean all the year" for £4 10s. The teacher of the 
Academy had liberty to ring the meeting-house bell 
for the use of the school. The parish about this 
time received a legacy of fifty pounds from the 
estate of Job Tompkins. 

The followiug advertisement in Wood's Newark 
Gazette and New Jersey Advertiser* of June 10, 
1795, indicates that " building lots" and " boarders" 
* N. J. Hist, Soc Librarv. 



144: 



BUILDING LOTS. 






were beginning to figure in the business nomencla- 
ture of the village. 

11 TO BE SOLD, 

By way of public vendue, on Saturday the 25th 
of July, twenty-three building lots, pleasantly sit- 
uated in Orange Dale, on the main road, opposite 
the meeting-house, and adjoining the Academy. 
Four of said lots have a never-failing stream of 
water running through them, which renders them 
convenient for the tanning business. On one of said 
lots there is a well of excellent water, and likewise 
a number of good fruit-trees dispersed through the 
different lots, all of which are fronting a road, 
which renders them convenient for both mercantile 
and mechanical business. They are situated in a 
very flourishing part of the country, and would be 
very convenient for any person or persons who may 
wish to take in boarders. 

Matthew Condit. 

Joseph Cone. 

N. B. Scythe-makers, nailers and silversmiths 
will find it tend greatly to their interest to settle 
themselves and carry on their business in this place, 
as they are much wanted." 

The following appears in the same publication. 
a The Academy at Orange Dale 
Opened on Tuesday the 17th inst., under the im- 
mediate instruction of Mr. Wyckoff, who has taught 






ACADEMY ADVERTISEMENT. 145 

the English and learned languages, the arts and 
sciences in this place with approbation and success 
for a number of years. Those who choose to send 
their children to this institution may be assured 
that great care and attention will be paid both to 
their education and morals, under the attendance, 
direction and influence of a board of trustees annu- 
ally chosen by the parish for that purpose. 

Jedediah Chapman, 
Orange, May 24, 1796. PresH." 

The expenses of instruction are not given ; but 
in an advertisement of the Newark Academy pub- 
lished at the same time, and signed by " Alexander 
McWhorter, minister of the First Presbyterian 
Church," and "Uzal Ogden, rector of Trinity 
Church/' we have the English language, writing, 
arithmetic, and public speaking taught for $2 per 
quarter ; geography, book-keeping, Latin, Greek, 
and the mathematics, for $3.25 ; French by a native 
for one guinea.* 

* Nothing is said of religion in these advertisements. In the 
Newark Academy, under the joint control of two denominations, 
the use of catechisms was impracticable. The Orange Academy 
was more properly a parish institution, and the Synod of 1766 had 
enjoined "that special care be taken of the principles and charac- 
ters of schoolmasters, that they teach the Westminster Catechism 
and Psalmody ; and that the ministers, church-sessions, and fore- 
said committees, (where they consistently can,) visit the schools 
and see these things be done." This recommendation, made nineteen 



146 A REFRESHING. 

It was voted by the parish three years before 
this, that "the public exhibitions of the Academy 
school may be held in the meeting-house." About 
the same time shade trees were ordered to be 
planted around the sanctuary. 

A gentle shower of reviving influence appears to 
have fallen on the Church at this time. The num- 
ber of persons brought into its communion does 
not indicate, however, a deep and general awaken- 
ing. According to an old register of baptisms and 
admissions to the Lord's table kept by Mr. Chap- 
man, and which (dating from 1786) has escaped the 
accidents of more than seventy years, the additions 
by profession in 1796 and the year following were 
thirty-three. 

By the expansion of the population of Newark 
and Orange, quite a settlement was at this period 
formed in what is now the township of Bloomfield. 
The place was then called by the Indian name Wat- 
sessing. Eeligious meetings appear to have been 
regularly held there as early as the year 1790. In 

years before the founding of our Academy, at the instance of a num- 
ber of lay elders and other zealous Presbyterians of Philadelphia, 
had probably little force at this time, if it ever possessed any. Of 
as little account in the esteem of the parties concerned must have 
been the recommendation appended, that " where schools are com- 
posed of different denominations, said committees and sessions in- 
vite proper persons of said denominations to join with them in such 
visitations." First teach the Catechism ; then invite others in to 
ese how well it has been done 



BLOOMFIELD CHURCH. 147 

May, 1794, the advice of the Presbytery was sought 
on the subject of organizing a church. The Pres- 
bytery in July recommended the movement, which 
for reasons unknown, was however delayed. In 
1796 the congregation by a vote assumed the name 
of Bloom field ; a compliment paid to Major General 
Bloomfield of Burlington, who returned it the next 
year in a donation of $140 toward their house of 
worship. The church was organized by Mr. Chap- 
man in June, 1798, receiving twenty-three of its 
members from Newark and fifty-nine from Orange. 
Among the latter were Elders Isaac Dodd (better 
known as " Deacon " Dodd) and Joseph Crane. 
Deacon Dodd had previously resigned his office in 
this Church, and Elder Joseph Pierson had in Feb- 
ruary been ordained to the diaconate as his succes- 
sor. At the same time Linus Dodd and Zenas 
Freeman were ordained elders. The latter was to 
have a short service — less than two years — before 
joining the elders around the throne. 

Mr. Chapman had now been settled in the parish 
more than thirty years. He had passed the peril- 
ous period of the revolution without having the 
pastoral bond severed by its divisions and animosi- 
ties. He had risen to a position of eminent esteem 
and influence in the Presbyterian body, and though 
in the ripeness of his powers, their decay could 
hardly have been visible at the age of fifty-seven. 
Circumstances were, however, beginning to shape 



148 

themselves uncomfortably around him. The prom- 
ise of his people that he should be freed from 
worldly cares, failed, by the fa alt of some of them, 
to be kept. 

In October, 1798, the trustees met " to inspect 
Mr. Chapman's rates, and to make a statement of 
the bad debts." Collectors were appointed to visit 
those who had unsettled accounts, and Mr. Chap- 
man was applied to for a power-of-attorney to en- 
force their settlement. This, he reminded them 
was unnecessary, the power being alteady theirs. 
To cover delinquencies, a paper for subscriptions 
was also passed round, agreeably to a vote taken at 
a parish meeting, in order to make the salary equal 
to what it was at the time of his settlement. It ap- 
peared upon examination that the rates, as now 
received, "amounted to about £134 6s. yearly." 
With this stipend, equal to $357, he had a house, 
which was kept in repair by the parish, a parson- 
age lot of four acres, and the twentv acres on the 
other side of the road, purchased by the society at 
its origin. It is supposed that no privileges were 
at this time allowed on the contested lands held by 
the Newark Society, from which the Orange claim- 
ants had been ejected the year previous by the 
withdrawal of their lease. 

When the parish came together in January, 1799, 
it was agreed to raise the salary that year to £160, 
($427). The plan, as arranged by the trustees, 



MISSIONARY APPOINTMENT. 149 



was : That those who did not assent to this agree- 
ment should be rated as heretofore; "then deduct 
the amount of those who have agreed to pay by 
certainty ; the residue to be raised from those who 
have agreed on the subscription to pay by way of 
rate." In the following December, the old debts 
still giving trouble, the trustees appointed Jotham 
Harrison and Isaac Pierson a committee to wait 
on Mr. Chapman, to make some arrangement of 
his old debts previous to any suits being com- 
menced. 

This was the posture of affairs when a call came 
from another quarter. The General Assembly, in 
May, 1800, desiring to locate a missionary on "the 
north-western frontiers," which then lay in Western 
New York, made choice of Mr. Chapman.* About 

* See Assembly's Digest, p. 349. The plan of the Assembly- 
was to employ a missionary four years, who should be engaged in 
missionary labor six months each year, with a compensation of 
$325 per year. The rest of the time he was expected to serve 
statedly some congregation. The compiler of the digest is wrong 
in saying that "Mr. Chapman was a settled pastor, and his pulpit 
was filled by a committee of the Assembly while he was engaged 
in these missionary labors." He had left his charge here, and he 
was not settled over the Geneva church till 1812. It was organiz- 
ed by him in 1800. 

It may be added here that the Presbyterian churches were early 
engaged in sending missionaries to the "frontiers," for the bene- 
fit no less of the red man than of the white. Their efforts to 
instruct the aborigines appear to have had some influence in pro- 
voking others to the same work. Colonel Babcock (an Episcopalian), 



150 REMOVAL TO GENEVA. 

the same time, and in conformity with the appoint- 
ment, his ministerial services were solicited by the 
people of Geneva and its neighborhood. The 
result was, that on the 13 th of August his pastoral 
relation to this church was dissolved — a relation 
which had existed thirty-four years. 

In the final settlement of his affairs with the 
parish, he received £29 for a study and other build- 
ings added by him to the parsonage, and £10 for 
money spent in repairs. 

A number of persons are yet living at Orange, 
who sat under Mr. Chapman's ministry here, and 
who cherish their reminiscences of those by-gone 
days. Jacob and Moses Harrison remember the 
barrel of cider which went annually to his cellar 
from their father's cider-mill — a large manufactory 
of the article. It was in the days when the " New- 
ark cider," produced from the famous Harrison and 
Canfield apples, enjoyed a wide reputation. It is 
said that one thousand barrels a year flowed from 
the presses of the single mill j ust mentioned. Of 
the extensive orchards that fed them, only the 
remnants now remain. 

writing to Rev. Dr. Cooper in 1773, and recommending the estab- 
lishment of an academy among the Indians near Albany, urged as 
one reason, that " this might in a great measure prevent the Pres- 
byterians, who are tucking and squeezing in every possible crevice they 
can, their missionaries among the Indians" Documentary History 
of New York. 



KEMINISCENCES OF HIM. 151 

This article was then a popular beverage, as- 
sociated with the hospitalities of every home. It 
was found in the minister's house, and was furnish- 
ed without scruple to the family, to the friend, to 
the laborer, and the stranger. The evening visit 
never closed without it, and the story is told of a 
certain parishioner of our pastor, whose neighborly 
calls were observed to be most frequent while the 
the cider lasted. The times of this ignorance have 
happily passed by. 

Mr. C. is remembered as an early riser, who 
might be seen at his well by day-light, on a sum- 
mer morning, performing his ablutions. He was a 
stout man, of fresh complexion, and fond of manual 
labor. In the pulpit he was earnest, and used a 
good deal of action. When a little excited, he 
would smite vigorously the desk, and speak in the 
tones of a " son of thunder." 

His temper was naturally quick, and being once 
rather rudely treated by a neighbor, with whom he 
had some difficulty about repairing a fence, he is 
reported to have said to him: "If it were not for 
my coat, Sir, I would give you a flogging." Hav- 
ing some hay out when a shower came up, and 
having succeeded in getting it in before the cloud 
reached the field, — " There," said he, "the prince of 
the power of the air meant to give my hay a wet- 
ting, but he got disappointed." 

He had a cornfield on the parsonage land, the 






152 MISSIONARY LABORS. 

soil of which, was a good deal impoverished. One 
of the farmers in passing it one day observed to 
him, that his corn looked rather yellow : "It tuas 
yellow com I planted" was the reply. 

Down to the end of his ministry in Orange, Mr. 
Chapman continued to wear the three-cornered hat, 
formerly a badge of the clerical profession. This 
was ordinarily set a little obliquely upon the head, 
but it was observed that in riding against the wind 
he was accustomed to turn it transversely, that is, 
with its broadest side foremost. When a friend 
asked him the reason of this, he said that a man in 
facing a north-wester should present a bold front* 

Upon leaving Orange, Mr. Chapman established 
his family at Geneva, where he supplied a congre- 
gation for many years, while performing a labori- 
ous missionary service in the region around. He 
had the surveying and superintendence of the whole 
missionary field in "Western New York assigned 
him by the General Assembly, to which he reported 
annually his labors and their results. The oldest 

* When Archibald Alexander (afterwards Professor in the 
Princeton Seminary) was travelling through New England in the 
summer of 1801, he distinguished the country ministers by the 
cocked hats which they still wore when they appeared in public. 
And Dr. Eckley told him that " even in Boston, when he visited 
the older people, he was obliged to put on the cocked hat, as they 
considered the round hat too 'buckish' for a clergyman." — Life of 
Dr. Alexander, p. 251— In Orange the round hat came with Mr. 
Hillyer— the innovation of a new century. 



HIS DEATH. 153 

churches in that region, those of Geneva, Komulns, 
Ovid, Kushville, Trumansburg, were organized by 
him. And he lived to see accomplished an object 
to which all his powers were devoted — " a complete 
union between the Presbyterian and Congregational 
churches in Western New York." * 

About ten months after his settlement over the 
Geneva church as its senior pastor, and after a fifty 
years' service in the ministry, he rested from his 
labors, May 22, 1813, in his seventy-third year. 
His last illness came on him in the pulpit, preach- 
ing from the words : "I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness," &c. 

He left to the Presbyterian Church a patriarchal 
name, and works that do still follow him. Few 
men among his contemporaries did an equal service 
for the church. The most of his descendants are 
warmly attached to the Presbyterian faith and or- 
der. 

* Hotchkin's Hist. "Western N. Y. At the formation of the 
Synod of Albany, he preached the opening sermon, and presided 
till a moderator was chosen. 






CHAPTER VI. 



REY. ASA HILLYER, D.D. 



THE preceding portion of our narrative is rather 
a parish history than a history of the church. 
Much would have been added to its religious in- 
terest, could the writer have had access to the 
perished records of the Church Session. These 
would have let him into the temple, while he has 
been treading in the outer courts ; permitted to 
11 walk about Zion and go round about her," but 
not to enter the sanctuary of her spiritual life. 
Stepping across the line which divides the centu- 
ries, we now enter a period distinguished by the 
interest of its events and less obscured by distance. 
Henceforth we have, a more luminous path, and 
one more divergent from matters of a civil and 
political nature. 

At the time Mr. Chapman was leaving Orange, 
a clergyman of New Hartford, Conn., was making 
arrangements to pass a winter in New Jersey in the 
hope that his wife's health would be benefited by 
its milder climate. It was the Rev. Edward Dorr 



LABORS OF GRIFFIN. 155 

Griffin, who had then been eight years in the exer- 
cise of those eloquent gifts which have placed his 
name among those of the ablest preachers of the 
century. Being an acquaintance and friend of Mr. 
Hillyer, who was settled at Madison, and being 
invited to pass some time at his house, he in Octo- 
ber accepted the invitation and remained there seve- 
ral weeks. His proximity to Orange brought him 
to the notice of the congregation here, who engaged 
him to supply their pulpit during the winter. An 
extensive awakening accompanied his preaching. 
Having labored in the parish six months, with a 
large blessing upon his labors, about fifty souls 
being hopefully converted, he would have received 
from the congregation a call had he given them 
sufficient encouragement. He was soon after set- 
tled in Newark as the colleague of Dr. McWhor- 
ter, while his friend, Mr. Hilly er, became pastor of 
this church. These circumstances led to a still 
closer intimacy. 

" In no situation/' wrote Dr. Hillyer many years 
afterward, " was Dr. Griffin more entirely at home 
than in a revival of religion. It was my privilege 
often to be with him in such circumstances ; and I 
knew not which to admire most, the skill and power 
with which he wielded the sword of the Spirit, or 
the childlike dependence which was evinced by his 
tender and fervent supplications. Though he was 
certainly one of the most accomplished pulpit 



156 



HIS PREACHING DESCRIBED. 



orators of his time, on these occasions especially, 
the power of his eloquence was lost sight of in the 
mighty effects which were produced. A quicken- 
ing influence went forth through the church, and 
an awakening and converting influence spread 
through the surrounding world ; the pressing of 
sinners into the kingdom was such as seemed 
almost to betoken the dawn of the millennial day ; 
and yet the instrumentality by which all this was 
brought about was little talked of. This result, 
after all, I suppose to be the highest effect of pulpit 
eloquence. He wrought so mightily on the relig- 
ious principles and affections of his audience, that 
they had not the time, or scarcely the ability, to 
marvel at the exalted gifts with which these effects 
were associated. 7 '* 

During his brief ministry in Orange, Mr. Griffin 
was a boarder in the family of Captain Jotham 
Harrison. From a statement drawn up by the 
latter in June, 1801, and laid before a parish com- 
mittee appointed the December previous " for the 
purpose of procuring suitable accommodations for 
Mr. Griffin, " it appears that the boarding account 
was settled by the parish. "What further compen- 
sation was given is not known. As he received 
no salary from his people in New Hartford during 
his absence, it is altogether probable that he was 
paid for his labors here something more than enough 

* Annals of Am. Pulpit, IV., 39. 






BOARD ACCOUNT. 157 

to settle his board bill. This latter, for twenty-nine 
weeks and two days, amounted to £144 3s. 7c7., or 
$385. It included, however, besides board, (at £2 
per week for Mr. and Mrs. Griffin,) a charge for 
two rooms entirely furnished (£20) ; the service of 
a hired woman, at six shillings a week, and her 
board at ten shillings ; the wages of a nurse for 
Mrs. Griffin at sixteen shillings a week, and her 
board at twelve shillings ; the keeping of a horse 
at twelve shillings a week, on " one peck of oats a 
day and the best hay ;" harnessing horse for Mr. 
Griffin and his visitors ; cutting wood, making 
fires, running on errands, &c, (£11 12s.) ; candles 
for the 29 weeks (£2 10s.). It will be seen that 
some of these charges grew out of the state of Mrs. 
Griffin's health. From the whole the reader will 
infer a disposition on the part of the people to sur- 
round the minister of Christ with all necessary 
comforts and facilities for his work. Their reward 
was proportionate. 

Failing to secure the permanent ministrations of 
Mr. Griffin, the congregation of Orange had their 
attention soon directed to the Rev* Asa Hillyer, of 
Madison. His long and useful ministry in the 
parish demands at our hands some notice of his 
earlier history. 

Mr. Hillyer was a native of Sheffield, Mass., 
where he was born April 16, 1763. He was the son 
of a physician, who became a surgeon in the Revolu- 
8 



158 REV. ASA HILLTER. 

tionary army. Entering Yale College when he was 
nineteen years old. he graduated after a four years' 
course of study in 1786. His father was at this 
time residing at Bridgehampton, L. I. In crossing 
the Sound on his return home from college, he 
came near losing his life by a storm, which arose in 
the night and drove ashore the vessel in which he 
sailed. Among his fellow-passengers there was a 
mother with several children. The sight of these 
touched the heart of } 7 oung Hilly er and roused all 
his heroism. Obtaining a boat, he placed them in 
it as soon as it began to be light, and then spring- 
ing into the water himself, pushed the boat to land. 
At this time he had no Christian hope, and the 
effect of the night's disaster and of its merciful ter- 
mination was the immediate and solemn consecra- 
tion of his life to God. 

Having resolved upon entering the ministry, he 
began a course of theological study with Dr. Buell, 
of East Hampton, which he subsequently pursued 
and finished with Dr. Livingston, of New York, 
and in 1788 he was licensed to preach by the Pres- 
bytery of Suffolk. His ordination and settlement 
at South Hanover, now Madison, N. J., by the 
Presbytery of New York, took place July 28 r 
1790. The next year he was married to Miss Jane 
Eiker, of Newtown, L. I. — a union destined to be 
long and happy. In 1798, under an appointment 
of the General Assembly, he went out upon a mis- 



MISSIONARY TOUR. 159 

sionary tour through northern Pennsylvania and 
western New York, being absent from his charge 
nine weeks, travelling more than nine hundred 
miles, and preaching daily or oftener. He carried 
the gospel to places where it was never heard be- 
fore. Among these may be mentioned the place 
where now stands the city of Auburn.* 

* At this place he was entertained at the house of a lawyer of 
sceptical sentiments, whose father, one of the signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, had been a man of piety. In convers- 
ing with the wife of his host, Mr. H. discovered her to be in a 
state of serious concern for her salvation. The gentleman pro- 
posing a ride the next day, for the purpose of giving him a view 
of the country, he accepted the invitation. After riding a short 
distance, the former observed that he had a special motive for the 
ride, desiring to have some conversation with him on a subject 
which was deeply engaging his thoughts. He informed him that 
he had been a disbeliever in the Bible. The book had lain in his 
office unused, except in the administration of oaths. One day, as 
his eye rested upon it, these thoughts arose : " I have read much 
that has been written against that book, but have never honestly 
examined the book itself. My father was a firm believer in it. 
He was not a man of weak intellect or of doubtful integrity, but 
intelligent, conscientious, patriotic, and pure-minded. It did not 
irrjure him, but contributed to make him what he was. I will now 
be honest with myself and give it a fair examination." He had 
commenced reading it, and its truths had so impressed and dis- 
turbed his mind that he had since found no peace. "Have you 
ever spoken to your wife on the subject ?" asked Mr. H. He said 
he had not. . As they continued their ride, the opportunity was 
improved to deepen his convictions of Gospel truth. On their 
return to the house, as the gentleman was fastening his horse, Mr. 
H. stepped in and disclosed to the wife what he had learned of 






160 CALL TO ORANGE. 

After laboring about twelve years with great 
acceptance at Madison — then known by the name 
of Bottle Hill — Mr. Hillyer was invited to the pas- 
toral charge of this congregation. After a due 
consideration of the subject, he decided to accept 
the invitation. The people of his former charge, 
in receiving his resignation, placed a minute upon 
their records, which (in the language of the present 
pastor of that church) " does honor both to them- 
selves and to him ; and furnishes a beautiful exem- 
plification of the spirit which ought to be exhibited 
both by pastors and people, when in the providence 
of God they are called to separate."* Although 
the call from this church was not unanimous, Mr. 
Hillyer entered the field hopefully, believing that 
a general concurrence would not long be withheld. 
He did not miscalculate the power of love. The 
field was soon his own, long to be held by the 
power that won it. 

The call, drawn up in the usual form, was as 
follows: "The Congregation of Orange Dale, be- 
ing on sufficient grounds well satisfied of the minis- 

her husband's state of mind. In a few moments the latter en- 
tered. His wife met him affectionately. As their eyes met, both 
were overcome with emotion. They embraced each other and 
wept, and were soon rejoicing together in the hope of salvation. — 
Related by Dr. Hillyer to Eev. James Wood, now President of 
Hanover College, Indiana, and by him to the writer. 

* Hist, of Pres. Church, Madison, by Rev. Samuel L. Tuttle, p. 
40. 



TERMS OF THE CALL. 161 

terial qualifications of you, the Kev. Asa Hillyer, 
and having good hopes from our past experience 
of your labors that your ministrations in the Gos- 
pel will be profitable to our spiritual interests, do 
earnestly call and desire you to undertake the pas- 
toral office in said congregation, promising you in 
the discharge of your duty all proper support, en- 
couragement, and obedience in the Lord. And 
that you may be free from worldly cares and avo- 
cations, we hereby promise and oblige ourselves to 
pay to you the sum of six hundred and twenty- 
five dollars in regular annual payments, together 
with the use of the parsonage house and twelve 
acres of land adjoining the same, and thirty cords 
of wood annually, during the time of your being 
and continuing the regular pastor of this church. 
The congregation, moreover, engage to put the 
buildings and fences in good repair. But the Eev. 
Asa Hillyer is to be at the expense of after repairs, 
with the privilege of collecting the necessary mate- 
rials from the parsonage to repair the fences. In 
testimony whereof, &c. Done October 20, 1801." 

The call was signed by the trustees, viz. : Aaron 
Mun, Joseph Pierson, Jun., Thomas Williams, Dan- 
iel Williams, Samuel Condit, Isaac Pierson ; — by 
the elders, viz. : Joseph Pierson, Jun., Amos Har- 
rison, John Perry, Aaron Mun, Linus Dodd, Henry 
Osborn ; and by Eev. Bethuel Dodd, Moderator. 



162 THE SETTLEMENT. 

The installation took place December 16 * 
Mr. Hillyer was now in his full strength, being 
in his 39th year — the age at which one of his pre- 
decessors had been called from his work. He had 
a tall and manly figure, and features not a little 
resembling those of George Washington. With- 
out the eloquence of Griffin, he had a vigorous 
intellect, sound learning, ardent piety, courteous 
manners, and great benevolence of character. Few 
men have possessed a happier combination of min- 
isterial qualities. 

There was another, however, possessing many 
similar traits of character, whose name is inciden- 
tally connected with our history at this point, and 
between whom and Mr. Hillyer a long and warm 
friendship subsequently existed. He was nine years 
younger, being in his thirtieth year, when, in the 
summer of 1801, having resigned a brief presidency 
of Hampden Sidney College, in Virginia, his native 
State, he made an extensive tour of observation on 
horseback through the Northern States, for the 
improvement of his health and mind. Having 
travelled through New England, he was returning 
homeward by way of New York and New Jersey. 
A Sabbath was passed in New York, where he 
preached in the evening for Dr. Eodgers in the 

* Dr. McWhorter presided and gave the charge to the minister ; 
James Richards, of Morristown, preached; Aaron Condit "made 
the address to the people." 



ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER. 163 

Brick Church. " The next day was partly spent 
at Newark, with the venerable Dr. McWhorter, 
after which he proceeded to Elizabethtown, and 
visited the Eev. Henry Kollock, at the house of 
his father. It a was a favorite plan of Mr. Kollock 
to have his friend settled in the congregation of 
Orange, but the steps taken by him were unsuc- 
cessful."* This young Virginian was Archibald 
Alexander, then little known in this region, but 
whose name New Jersey was yet to cherish with 
a just pride as enrolled among those of her ablest 
theological teachers and most useful writers. It 
is likely that the congregation of Orange had their 
thoughts fixed upon Mr. Hillyer, if they had not 
already invited him, and Providence had other 
and yet larger designs for Mr. Alexander. His 
friend Kollock, (afterward Dr. Kollock,) one of the 
most eloquent preachers of his day, settled in Sa- 
vannah, Ga. He was a son of Shepard Kollock, 
of Elizabethtown, an active patriot in the Eevolu- 
tion, and for some time editor and publisher of a 
newspaper, f 

The old stone meeting-house was now the memo- 
rial of a generation gone. It had stood almost 

* Life of Dr. Alexander, p. 264. 
f Mr. Hillyer's oldest son, Asa, married Ljdia, a daughter of 
Shepard Kollock. He lived but about eighteen months after their 
union. The widow became the wife of Rev. Dr. Holdich, of the 
Am. Bible Society. 






164 CHURCH OFFICERS. 

half a century. The stone parsonage had more 
than completed that period. Both had from time 
to time seen their age renewed by sundry improve- 
ments, and they were not yet to be released from 
service for a dozen years or more. The church 
had a membership of about two hundred. The 
exact figure is not known prior to 1806, when it 
was reported at two hundred and twenty-three. 
The congregation was among the largest to be 
found in the rural parishes. Such was the field. 
It was entered by the new pastor in the hope of a 
more expanded usefulness. 

And who were to be the helpers of his ministry ? 
Few were left of those who, thirty -five years be- 
fore, had given the right hand of their confidence 
to his predecessor. In the line of elders, Bethuel 
Pierson had been gone some ten years, and Joseph, 
his son, had succeeded to the " double honor " of 
which he had been counted worthy. Noah Crane, 
at the age of eighty-one, had passed away but a 
year and a half before, and Zenas Freeman, at half 
that age, had speedily followed. Isaac Dodd and 
Joseph Crane had been transferred to Bloomfield. 
Of the officers who remained, Deacon Amos Bald- 
win was in his eighty-second year — old enough to 
retire from service. Judge Peck, also an elder and 
deacon, stood next in seniority, being in his sev- 
entieth year. John Perry was fifty-five. Joseph 
Pierson, Aaron Munn, Linus Dodd, Amos Harri- 






THE SEXTON. 165 

son, and Henry Osborn, were younger. The names 
of Moses Condit and John Lindsley were added to 
the list a little more than three years after. These 
were the associates of our pastor in the earliest period 
of his administration here. They were all literally 
his elders, who were to finish their course before him. 
There was in the parish a young man of twenty- 
six, who was to be an office-bearer at the end of 
thirty years, when these were gone. At this time he 
might have been seen on a Sunday morning or a 
Wednesday evening performing the duties of bell- 
ringer. This was Josiah Frost, who was employed 
in 1800 to ring the bell " on Sabbath and lecture 
days " for £3 14s. ; the widow Sarah Condit hav- 
ing charge of the sweeping at £5 per annum. The 
sexton's offices were thus divided between the two 
till 1805, when the former assumed the whole busi- 
ness, with a salary of $33 87. By the terms of 
the contract he was to take the whole and proper 
charge of the meeting-house, sweeping the same, 
finding the sand, ringing the bell, and lighting the 
candles ; the last named-article to be found at the 
expense of the parish, and " the ends left to go to 
the person who lights the candles." This service 
Mr. Frost performed through a number of years. 
In due time he was called to serve the church in a 
higher office, and at the time of our present writ- 
ing he has just " entered into the joy of his Lord," 
ripe in years and spiritual fruitfulness. 
8* 



166 LOTS ON THE COMMON. 

The growth of the village creating a consider- 
able demand for building lots, the parish in 1802 
resolved to sell a portion of its lands along Main 
street for that purpose — the interest to be appro- 
priated to the support of the Gospel. Five lots 
north and eight lots south of the street were accord- 
ingly sold, for the sum of $3,546, secured by bond 
and mortgage. The strip of ground already used 
for a Common, lying opposite the parsonage, was 
to be reserved for that purpose forever. The eight 
lots lay along the southern border of this, and 
comprised six acres and fifty-eight hundredths of 
an acre. The Common was for a special and pa- 
triotic use, as well as for the public convenience 
and for the adornment of the village. The mar- 
tial parade drew hither annually its display of 
arms, and a crowd of citizen s, old and young, who 
looked to the occasion as the carnival of the year. 
Generous dinners were furnished by the tavern 
hard by, while travelling hucksters and auctioneers 
did a thriving business by the wayside. The 
locality is that now known as the park. 

In 1806, the trustees resolved to build a store- 
house on the Orange Dock, " 18 feet by 30." The 
work was executed by Amos Harrison, he being 
the lowest bidder, for $239 75. 

About two years from Mr. Hillyer's settlement, 
the church received a gentle refreshing. This in- 
dication of the divine favor excited his thanks- 



REVIVAL OF 1807, 167 

givings, and relieved him of a lingering fear that 
he had mistaken the voice of Providence in the 
matter of his settlement. If any measure of that 
fear remained, it was put to rest a few years subse- 
quently, when there came down a baptism of the 
Spirit which surpassed anything known, before or 
since, in the history of the congregation. There 
is, happily, a narrative of this great revival, writ- 
ten by himself to some clerical friend. The name 
and date are not found in the transcript before us. 
We give his account of it without abridgment. 

" Rev. and Dear Sir : — A weakness in my side, occasioned 
by the illness from which I was just recovering, when I saw you 
last September, which rendered it extremely painful for me to 
write, has prevented my complying with your request until this 
time. But supposing that, even at this late hour, it may not be 
displeasing to you to receive a brief account of the wonders of 
divine grace which have been witnessed in this congregation, 
and a general view of the work of God in this vicinity, I will 
endeavor to give as general and succinct a relation of these 
things as I am able. 

" In the beginning of September, 1807, some tokens of good 
were discovered. A number of praying people were stirred up 
to fervent prayer, aud there appeared to be an increased at- 
tention to the preached word. For more than three years a 
meeting for special prayer had been attended in the church on 
the first Monday evening in every month. This meeting now 
increased in numbers and solemnity. 

"This church, in connection with two neighboring churches,* 

* Those of Newark and Bloomfield, doubtless. Dr. Griffin, then 
pastor in Newark, made this record in his journal: "September, 



168 STATE OF MORALS. 

agreed to set apart September 4th for tasting and prayer, and 
in an especial manner, make supplication for the effusion of the 
Holy Spirit. A number of praying people also agreed to 
meet at nine o'clock on Sabbath morning, in the academy, to 
spend an hour in prayer for their minister, and for a divine 
blessing on the exercises of the day. This has been attended 
from that time to the present by a great proportion of the 
praying people of the congregation. It has been very refresh- 
ing to them, and accompanied with very happy effects. 

" But it may not be improper to remark here, that for some 
time previous to this, everything around assumed a gloomy 
aspect in regard to evangelical piety. All meetings for prayer, 
except the first Monday in the month, were relinquished. 
Gambling, horse-racing, intemperance, and dissipation of every 
kind, threatened all social order with destruction. A moral 
society had been established for two years, the object of which 
was the suppression of vice and immorality ; but no human 
effort was able to withstand the torrent of vice which threat- 
ened us on every side. At the same time the exertions of 
Christians were paralyzed ; the wise were sleeping with the 
foolish. This state of things alarmed a few praying people ; 
they agreed to resume a prayer-meeting which had, for the first 
time in more than forty years, been relinquished the spring be- 
fore. This took place about the latter part of July. For a 
number of weeks not more than twelve or fourteen persons at- 
tended ; but such fervent and earnest wrestling with God I 
never witnessed. They prayed as though they saw their chil- 
dren and neighbors standing on the verge of destruction, and 
that, without an immediate interposition of almighty grace, 
they were lost for ever. 

1807. Began a great revival of religion in the town. Ninety- 
seven joined the church in one day, and about two hundred in all. ' ' 
Fifty, or more, were gathered in at Bloomfield. 



THE BALL. 169 

" It was soon perceived that our public assemblies were un- 
usually solemn, but no special impression appeared to be made 
until the third Sabbath in September. In the morning the 
assembly was addressed on the awful solemnity of a future 
judgment ; and, in the afternoon, from these words : Choose you 
this day whom ye will serve. This was a day long to be remem- 
bered. Such solemnity had not been seen for many years, and 
many date their first impressions from that day. 

" The case of one young Miss it may not be improper for 
me to mention. She had been excessively fond of balls and 
parties of pleasure ; and had so strong an aversion to the public 
institutions of religion, that it was with difficulty she could be 
prevailed upon to attend public worship. This day she re- 
solved to give up her amusements, and attend to the vast con- 
cerns of her soul. In the evening we had a crowded assembly. 
An address was made from these words : All tliat the Father 
giveth me shall come to me. The doctrine brought to view in 
this passage of Scripture greatly exasperated a number present, 
among whom was this young lady. She now declared she 
would attend no more meetings ; ' for,' said she, ' if I am given 
to Christ, I shall be saved ; if not, all my efforts will be vain.' 
In the conclusion of the exercises, the youth were particularly 
addressed, and affectionately told of the wonderful things God 
was doing for the young people of Newark and Elizabethtown. 
The young lady above-mentioned, notwithstanding her enmity to 
the truth, resolved to break up a ball she had engaged to attend 
the next Tuesday evening. Accordingly, early Monday morn- 
ing she called on a number of her female companions, and per- 
suaded them to unite with her, and have the contemplated ball 
deferred until the next week. They succeeded ; the ball was defer- 
red, and has not since been attended. The disappointment 
which this occasioned greatly exasperated some of the young 
men, who determined to seek revenge on their minister and 
others, whom they accused of breaking up the ball ; although 



170 THE PRAYER-MEETING. 

their minister knew nothing of the ball until they mentioned 
it afterwards, with abhorrence. They resolved to attend the 
prayer-meeting the next Wednesday evening, and then fix upon 
another time for their favorite amusement. ' We will go,' said 
they, ' and crowd out the old fellows, and let Mr. H. see that 
for once he has enough young people at his prayer-meeting.' 

" When I came to the house, I was not a little surprised to 
see two rooms and the entry filled with people, the most of 
whom had never been seen in such a place before ; and, as I 
entered the room, to see the seats previously occupied by a few 
praying persons now filled by some of the most profligate youth 
in our village. The first prayer was made by an aged Christian, 
who is the only surviving member of the meeting when it was 
established, forty years ago. His prayer was solemn and im- 
pressive. An address was then made from these words : Come 
now, and let us reason together. No attempt was made to 
work upon the passions. The youth, in an especial manner, 
were exhorted to consider the reasonableness of giving their 
hearts to God, and consecrating the best of their lives to his 
service. The assembly was unusually solemn. These daring 
youth were made to tremble under the word. Numbers were 
evidently pricked to the heart. Their tears, which they made 
great exertions to conceal, betrayed an awakened conscience. 
Such a scene had never before been witnessed by any person 
present. 

" No disturbance was made. All retired in solemn silence. 
Twelve or fifteen of the youth, who came with an intention of 
disturbing the meeting, went away trembling under a sense of 
guilt. As they had no suspicion of each others' feelings, each 
made an effort to conceal his own. One of them has since said, 
supposing that none of his companions felt as he did, and that 
he should be unable to conceal his feelings, he crossed a corn- 
field and went home unobserved. Another said, while walking 
the street he assumed an unusual gayety to conceal his feelings, 






POWER OF THE REVIVAL. 171 

although the terrors of his mind were such that it appeared to 
him the earth would open and swallow him up. 

" One, who had not been in the house, made an effort to stop 
the young people in the street, to concert a plan for the contem- 
plated ball ; but his efforts were vain — all hurried home. After 
the people retired, four or five young women, who had waited 
in a back room, came in the room where the family were sitting, 
wringing their hands, and exclaimed, ' Oh, Mr. H., what shall 
we do ? ' After giving them such instruction as their case 
seemed to require, I engaged to meet with them the next even- 
ing. These, with a number of others, met the next evening in 
conference. Saturday afternoon we again met in conference. The 
beginning of the next week, the number under serious impressions 
had become too great to be accommodated at a private house. 

"Within a mile of the church we have an academy and two 
large school-houses. It was agreed to hold our conferences at 
these, alternately. Our assemblies, on these occasions, were 
frequently so large we were obliged to repair to the church. 
Sabbath and Wednesday evening we had stated lecture in the 
church. Our assemblies were all solemn, but without noise or 
disorder. After the usual exercises of our evening meetings 
were concluded, it was often difficult to persuade the people to 
retire. Indeed, this was impossible, until they were left by 
those to whom they looked for instruction. 

" One evening, after the benediction had been pronounced, 
the whole assembly stood in solid column. Scarcely an indi- 
vidual moved from his place. Such evidences of deep and heart- 
felt sorrow I never witnessed before, on any occasion. While 
all stood in solemn silence, there seemed a greater appearance 
of solemnity than during any part of the previous exercises. 
Sometimes it seemed we had only to stand still and see the sal- 
vation of God. It seemed, indeed, that the Lord was there, 
and that he gave us an example of his immediate work upon 
the conscience and the heart. 



172 TOWNSHIP OF ORANGE. 

"If it were proper for me to go further into detail, I might 
mention other scenes similar to this. Within two weeks from 
the commencement of the work, more than one hundred were 
deeply impressed. A visible change seemed to be produced 
throughout the village." 

The church received much strength from this re- 
markable work, one hundred and forty-five persons 
being added to its communion in the course of the 
next year. So large an ingathering belongs to no 
other year of its history. 

Orange had continued, till about this time, to be 
a part of the township of Newark. In 1806 it was 
organized as a town, under the name it now bears. 
The new township was consecrated by a glorious 
baptism ! 

About the close of the year 1808, Nathaniel 
Bruen and David Munn were chosen elders. The 
latter, though his name appears at two or three 
meetings of Session, declined the appointment, and 
was never set apart to the office by ordination. 

In 1809, an addition was made to the pastor's 
salary, raising the amount paid in money from $625 
to $800. 

By the separation of the town from Newark, it 
became necessary for the church to change its cor- 
porate name. The legislature being applied to, 
changed its title, in 1811, from the Second Presby- 
terian Church in Newark to the First Presbyterian 
Church in Orange. 



HONORABLE TRUSTS. 173 

It was during this year Mr. Hillyer was made a 
trustee of the College of New Jersey — an office which 
he held to the close of life, and which was accom- 
panied with a sincere and active devotion to the 
interests of the institution. He was also chosen, in 
1812, one of the first directors of the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton. This appointment was 
regularly renewed until the disruption of the 
church ; and, also, subsequently to that event, after 
a single omission. These important trusts, held for 
a quarter of a century, are indicative at once of a 
generous public spirit, of persistent good-will to- 
ward those from whom he was ecclesiastically sepa- 
rated, and of established confidence in his integrity 
and administrative ability. 

A similar confidence, on the part of his people, 
was manifested, and also justified, in the success of 
an important enterprise within the parish, which is 
said to have originated with him. This was the 
erection of a new and larger temple in which to 
worship God. Time, and the progress of popula- 
tion, had created what seemed to him a necessity 
for this. He proposed it. Some approved, and 
some objected. Some thought it feasible, and some 
impossible. He asked certain persons of the latter 
class, if they would i^vor the undertaking, provided 
he would secure the subscription of a certain sum 
of money which he named. They answered him, 
Yes. He started out with his paper on Monday, 



174 



THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 



and by the close of the week had procured double 
the amount specified. We learn, from Mr. Moses 
Harrison, that his father, Jared Harrison, opened 
the subscription with $500. A laudable emulation 
was awakened. Those who refused donations stood 
ready to purchase pews. The thought, once fairly 
before the people, kindled desire, and desire led to 
action. 

The initial steps of the enterprise were taken in 
1811. At the parish meeting in May, the trustees 
were authorized to purchase a half acre of ground 
for a site, lying on the north side of the road in the 
rear of the church. It was purchased of Stephen 
D. Day, for $400. The next year the work began, 
under the direction of the trustees, assisted by a 
building committee. It was voted by the parish 
that the front and sides of the new edifice should 
be built of dressed stone, the rear of undressed. 
The trustees were at first instructed to have the 
work done by contract, but these instructions were 
subsequently recalled, the matter being left to their 
discretion. They accordingly employed an archi- 
tect and proceeded with the work, many members 
of the parish preferring to turn in their labor on 
their subscription account. The principal architect 
was Moses Dodd, who received, for his services, 
three dollars a day. We have found no written 
details relating to the progress of the work, but we 
are told by Mr. Adonijah Osmun, that the corner 






ITS DIMENSIONS, 175 

stone was laid the 15th of September, 1812. At 
the meeting of the parish, the next April, it was 
voted to take down the old meeting-house, for the 
purpose of using its material in the construction of 
the new. The double work of demolition and edi- 
fication followed, — the Sabbath assembly, in a meas- 
ure broken up and reduced in numbers, being for 
several months held elsewhere. The stone tablet, 
over the door of the demolished edifice, was trans- 
ferred to the inside of the tower in the new, where 
the inscription upon its face may yet be read, unob- 
scured by the mould which has gathered upon its 
contemporaries in the old graveyard. 

A goodly sanctuary was reared, considerably ex- 
ceeding the dimensions of its predecessor. It had 
a front of sixty-three feet, and a depth of ninety .in 
the central and longest part, the rear wall having a 
curvature or convexity of four or five feet. This 
length does not include the projection of the tower 
in front, which was four feet. The walls had an 
elevation of about thirty-six feet to the roof. The 
tower, eighteen and a half feet wide, was carried 
up to the top of the building. The steeple was re- 
served for the work of another year. Three large 
folding- doors admitted the worshipper to the vesti- 
bule. Two opened from that into the audience- 
room, connecting with two aisles between which, at 
the hither end, stood the pulpit. The house had 
double rows of windows, which numbered ten on 



176 THE OLD BELL. 

each side, six at the rear end, and three in front, 
exclusive of lights above the doors. Galleries at 
the sides and end rose above the pulpit in sublimity 
of position, if they were not always to equal it in 
sublimity of thought and solemnity of feeling- 
These, for some time to come, were to be kept in 
order by a Sunday police stationed at suitable dis- 
tances. 

The bell, taken down from its modest quarters in 
the old steeple, was suspended on a pole to perform 
its last offices in calling the workmen to their tasks. 
A calamity had befallen it some time previously, 
of which it still bore the mark. The tongue hav- 
ing dropped out when its voice was needed on a 
funeral occasion, was taken by the bell-ringer and 
struck upon the rim of the bell, by which a frac- 
ture was produced. The bell was taken to a smith, 
who attempted to weld the fracture. Instead of 
this, a piece was melted out. The failure, however, 
proved a success, for the tone of the bell was in a 
good measure restored. Having in this condition 
continued to do duty, it was now, as we have 
stated, put to a useful service in signaling the hours 
of labor. But it was destined to share the fate of 
the old church — bequeathing its metal, while losing 
its individuality. As the new house went up and 
the work drew near completion, a workman named 
William Halsey, to secure the parish against possi- 
bilities which excited uneasiness in some minds, 







THE THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 



DEDICATION. 177 

gave the bell a finishing stroke with his hammer. 
A piercing knell — and the tongue which had so 
long discoursed solemnly of eternity and sweetly of 
heaven, which had called a generation to their 
nightly repose and to their weekly devotions, which 
had been the music of their lives and a mourner at 
their burial, was silent forever ! 

The new building (except the steeple) went up 
during the summer and autumn of 1813. The date 
of its dedication we have not been able to deter- 
mine. According to the recollections of some who 
were present, it occurred in the month of Decem- 
ber, the weather being quite cold. Mr. Hillyer 
preached. The assembly was large and the occa- 
sion inspiring. Taking a text from Genesis 28 : 17, 
he thus congratulated his audience, who were now 
partakers of his joy as they had been of his toil 
and hope : 

" My Brethren : — The circumstances in which 
we meet this morning are calculated to inspire us 
all with unfeigned gratitude and lively joy. By 
the good providence of our God, a work of great 
labor and expense is so far accomplished that we 
may this day begin to enjoy its fruits. If we look 
back to the moment when, with solicitude and 
trembling hope, we laid the corner-stone, and con- 
sider the rapidity and safety with which the work 
has progressed — that in a little more than twelve 
months this large, convenient and beautiful build- 



178 MR. 

ing has been thus far completed — that in all the 
dangers to which a numerous body of useful 
mechanics and laborers have been exposed, not a 
life has been lost, nor a bone broken* — what heart 
does not feel, and what tongue does not confess, 
that this is the finger of God ? We are permitted 
in health and in peace to assemble around these 
altars, and by prayer and thanksgiving dedicate 
this house to our God and Kedeemer." 

"Words equally earnest, and which have not yet 
lost their fitness or force, were heard as the speaker 
drew his discourse to a close. The thoughts 
evolved from his subject and from the occasion, 
were thus brought home to his congregation : 

" The God of Jacob has given you a Bethel — 
not in the wilderness, not in exile from domestic 
endearments, not in circumstances of poverty and 
want, but in circumstances happily adapted to 
spiritual improvement. Let me beseech you, my 

* This was true ; yet one of the workmen (David S. Roff) had 
fallen from the scaffolding, when the wall was within one tier of 
the top. By a singular providence he fell where a pile of sand was 
or had been lying, and thus escaped being broken on the frag- 
ments and chips of stone which covered the ground all around the 
spot. Those who saw him fall observed that he rebounded from 
the ground a foot or two. It was on the east side of the building. 
The accident was occasioned by stepping on a loose bit of stone. 
The injury did not prove serious. Josiah Frost was standing 
where he felL Hearing the noise, he looked up, saw the man de- 
scending, and had just time to save himself by stepping aside. 



EARNEST WORDS. 179 

brethren, to look around with suitable emotions of 
gratitude and praise upon this spacious and con- 
venient temple of the Lord, whose doors are opened 
to invite you and your children to the gospel feast. 
And realize the obligations you are under to attend 
constantly and devoutly on all the duties of the 
sanctuary. A solemn responsibility attaches to 
every member of this congregation. ISTo excuse 
can be ordinarily made for Jus absence, who has 
health and strength to come to these courts. If 
any now neglect the public worship of God, it be- 
comes them very seriously to consider what excuse 
they will make at the great day of account. Let no 
one suffer his seat to be empty unless imperious ne- 
cessity compel him. Let your example never en- 
courage the negligence of others. Let parents and 
heads of families learn their indispensable obliga- 
tion, not only to be present themselves, but to be 
careful that their children, their servants, and all 
under their care attend constantly upon the public 
worship of God. Soon you must leave your chil- 
dren, and upon them the interests of the church and 
of religion will devolve. Oh, how important, before 
you die, you should see in your children and those 
who are to follow you the habit formed of constant 
and devout attention to the public institutions of 
religion !" 

The younger part of his flock were thus admon- 
ished : 









180 BUILDING OF STEEPLE. 

" Kemember, this house was in a peculiar sense 
built for you. Your fathers can enjoy it but a 
little while. Oh, be entreated early to form the habit 
of constant and devout attention to the means of 
grace administered here ! Let it not be said of 
you, my young friends, as is the case with too 
many others, that you prefer amusement, idleness, 
or parties of pleasure to the public worship of your 
God and Kedeemer." 

Forty-six years have left but few even of the 
youth who listened to these solemn counsels. 

The edifice thus consecrated was built at a cost 
of about $28,000. A steeple was yet necessary to 
complete the design. This was added in the follow- 
ing year by a contract with Mr. Dodd, the architect, 
for $2,75^). The parish in April voted that the 
surplus money raised by the sale of the pews in the 
new church remain in the hands of the trustees, to 
defray the expense of finishing the house, pur- 
chasing a bell and chandeliers, and fencing the 
church lot. The fund at interest amounted at this 
time to about §6,000, the most of it secured by 
bond and mortgage. 

Among these securities was a mortgage on the 
" Orange Dock," for the sum of $750, given by 
Jacob Plum, and bearing date the 25th of May, 
1812. From the sale of the dock we infer that the 
sloop owned by the parish was likewise sold about 
this time, the whole capital thus invested being 



MINERAL SPRING. 181 

probably absorbed in the new church building. 
We learn that some difficulty was experienced in 
the adjustment of the claims of private stockholders. 
Those claims were, however, satisfied, and the 
whole shipping interest transferred to the common 
fund. 

Orange was at this time celebrated as a watering- 
'place. The chalybeate spring, which now adds its 
attractions to the romantic and tasteful grounds of 
Mr. Pillot, was much resorted to as a public foun- 
tain of health. Near by was a boarding hotel, 
which has since been transformed into the mansion 
occupied by the gentleman just named. Every 
season brought to this spot hundreds of invalids 
and pleasure-seekers, whose presence added a new 
feature to the social character of the place, and 
swelled perceptibly the large assemblies which on 
the Sabbath received from Mr. Hillyer's lips the 
word of life. The mineral spring, it is said, was 
" once the most fashionable place of resort in the 
United States. Up to 1824, Orange was the great 
American Saratoga."* 

There was a class of worshippers in the new 
sanctuary for whose accommodation special provi- 
sion was made. They are brought to our notice in 
a resolution of the parish in 1815, requesting the 
trustees " to. call on the slaveholders for the annuity 

* See Specimen Number of the Orange Journal, Jan. 7, 1854, 

9 



182 PROVISION FOR SLAVES. 

on the pews set apart for their slaves." This was 
five years before the emancipation act, and ten 
years before it began to take effect in the dissolu- 
tion of the servile bond.* It is gratifying to know 
that while the day of emancipation was dawning, 
the light of the gospel was already shining on this 
portion of the population. The first Sunday-school 
in this parish was established for their benefit in 
1816. 

The demolition of the old meeting-house was to 
be followed not long after by the abandonment of 
the parsonage — four years its senior in age. This 
event was occasioned by a conviction in Mrs. Hill- 
yer's mind that her health, which was delicate, was 
injuriously affected by her residence there. In 
consequence of this impression, Mr. Hillyer remov- 
ed in 1815 to a wooden house on the corner of the 
street which bears his name. It is now the resi- 
dence of his son-in-law, Dr. William Pierson. The 
parish this year resolved to pay $200 in lieu of the 
wood formerly provided for him. 

The temple so recently consecrated was receiv- 
ing evidences that the Lord of hosts had made His 

* By the act of February, 1820, children horn of slave parents 
subsequent to July 4, 1804, were to become free, the females upon 
arriving at twenty-one, the males at twenty-five years of age, The 
slave population of the State reached its maximum (12,422) in 
1800. In 1810 it was 10,85*7. In 1850, there were 236 slaves; 
23,810 free colored. 



REVIVAL OF 1817. 183 

abode there. His people had proved Him with 
their offerings; a blessing was poured out upon 
them in return. Before their work was finished in 
building him a house, a special work of grace was 
going on. This is indicated by the fruits gathered 
in during the year 1814, when thirty-one persons 
took the vow of obedience at the altars of the new 
sanctuary. Things more glorious were to be spo- 
ken of Zion three years later, when there came an- 
other general awakening. In Newark, Elizabeth- 
town, Bloomfield, Caldwell, Connecticut Farms, 
and other places, the Spirit came down with signal 
power. 

The first manifestations of the work here were in 
the autumn of 1816. The weekly meetings held 
in the academy began to assume an unusual inter- 
est. Such was the attendance that the place be- 
came too strait, and the services were transferred 
to the church. Additional appointments were also 
made, both for preaching and prayer, in Doddtown 
and other neighborhoods. Two young men from 
Princeton, Messrs. Barnes and Riggs, assisted Mr. 
Hillyer several weeks. 

The praying men of the parish were at work in 
their several localities, and on the morning of the 
Sabbath might be seen coming together from each 
point of the compass, to intercede for the Spirit's 
presence, and for a blessing on the word. Of this 
number was Elder John Perry — a personal illustra- 



184 MEN OF PRAYER. 

tion of the proverb that u the legs of the lame are 
not equal," but demonstrating no less the truth of 
the promise, that " the lame man shall leap as a 
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing ; for in the 
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in 
the desert." It might have been said of him with 
very little of poetic exaggeration : " Behold, he 
cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon 
the hills." His mountain home was not too high 
nor too distant for him to descend from it, though 
with uneven, limping pace, to the solemn convoca- 
tions of the house of prayer ; and having waited 
upon the Lord, and with tears entreated men, he 
would return to his home in the promised strength 
and joy of the Lord, mounting up with wings as 
eagles. Associated with him in the work, and in 
official responsibility, were the two Joseph Pier- 
sons, Amos Harrison, Linus Dodd, Moses Condit, 
John Lindsley, Adonijah Osmun, and Daniel Con- 
dit ; not all of them men of like zeal, but men 
whom the church delighted to honor, and whose 
prayers prevailed with God. We could wish 
that the scenes of that revival had some other 
record than the unwritten memories of them which 
remain. Such indeed they have, but the record is 
on high. 

The particulars here furnished are from the re- 
collections of one who was a subject of the revival. 
His own mind was wrought upon with great power. 



SUNDAY - SCHOOLS. 185 

At night, he says, lie looked upon the heavens, 
and thought how these declared their Maker's glory, 
while he, His rational creature, had done nothing 
but rebel against Him. In every star that shone, 
and in every object of nature and blessing of prov- 
idence, he seemed to meet an accuser. And so 
completely was his mind engrossed and overwhelm- 
ed with the thoughts of his own guilty condition 
and exposure to the anger of a Holy God, that for 
a considerable time he scarcely took note of what 
related to others.* Many others there were, who 
were passing through a like experience. The 
records of the session for the year 1817, show an 
ingathering of one hundred and thirteen souls, the 
hopeful trophies of recovering grace. 

A blessed and permanent institution of the 
church — the Sabbath-school — grew out of this re- 
vival, or had its origin in it. "We have spoken of 
a school instituted for the colored people. Another, 
for the benefit of the children and youth of the 
congregation generally, was established in 1817. 
The two schools assembled in the upper and lower 
rooms of the academy. Among those who devoted 

e Mr. Nicol, now an elder in the Second Church. Mr. Osmun, 
his venerable colleague, was a subject of the revival of 1807. The 
latter relates to me that Dr. Griffin, being once in Orange, after he 
had preached here, and meeting Elder John Perry, saluted him on 
this wise : " Well, brother Perry, you are still limping along to- 
ward heaven, are you ?" — " The first part is true," was the reply. 



186 BIBLE SOCIETY. 

themselves to the religious instruction of the colored 
population — then in servitude — was a daughter of 
the pastor, one who is yet with us, and yet un- 
wearied in the Christian labors that engaged her 
youthful love. 

There sprang from the same revival another in- 
stitution not now existing, though its spirit lives. 
This was the Orange Bible Society. The National 
Society having been organized the year previous, a 
local society in furtherance of the same object, " in 
our own vicinity," was formed here, Nov. 1, 1817. 
One dollar was the price of admission to its mem- 
bership; ten dollars to a life-membership. Mr. 
Hilly er took an active interest in the enterprise, 
drew up the constitution, and was chosen Vice- 
President. The society does not appear from its 
books to have been a highly efficient one. The 
members paid pretty regularly their dollar a year 
till 1828, when the books were closed, the aggre- 
gate receipts for eleven years being $250.65. 

In the spring of 1817, "the trustees and com- 
mittee appointed at a late parish-meeting to make 
arrangements with Mr. Hillyer respecting a parson- 
age," reported — 

" That they had agreed with Mr. Hillyer to 
raise his salary to $1120 per year ; on condition 
that he would relinquish his claim to the old par- 
sonage-house and one half acre of land adjoining, a 
quarter of an acre adjoining Samuel W. Tichenor, 



NATIONAL SOCIETIES. 187 

a quarter of an acre adjoining Allen Dodd, and all 
the land owned by the parish on the south side of 
the road. They further reported that they had con- 
ferred with Mr. Hilly er on the subject, and that he 
was satisfied with the arrangement. The meeting ap- 
proved and confirmed the contract by a solemn 
vote, and authorized the trustees to use the above- 
mentioned pieces of land to enable them to fulfil 
the contract on their part." 

The great idea of religious beneficence, and of 
Christianity as a grand power for reforming the 
world, was at this period seizing the best and most 
vigorous intellects of the country as it had never be- 
fore done. In 1809 was formed the American Board ; 
in 1814, the American Tract Society (of Boston) ; in 
1816, the American Bible Society; in 1817, the 
American Colonization Society, and (within the 
Presbyterian church) the United Foreign Mission- 
ary Society. This last Mr. Hilly er assisted to form, 
and he gave his earnest sympathies to the rest, as he 
did subsequently to the Education Society (1818), 
the Sunday School Union (1824), the American 
Tract Society at New York (1825), the Home Mis- 
sionary Society (1826), the Seamen's Friend Society 
(1828). It will be seen from the dates how rapidly 
these institutions sprang up during his ministry. 
They found in his liberal views, and his warm 
sympathy with whatever could benefit man, a sure 
ground of support. 




183 REVIVAL OF 1825. 

During the year 1818, in the full ripeness of his 
mind and ministry, he received from Alleghany 
college the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The 
honor was worn as modestly as worthily. 

The church had at this time grown to a member- 
ship of 520. At about this number it stood, till 
the years 1824r-5 brought another Pentecost. In 
this revival Dr. Hillyer was assisted by a young 
man from Greenfield, N. Y., who had then just 
completed his theological studies at Princeton.* 

* The young man alluded to was James "Wood, now Eev. Dr. 
Wood, President of Hanover College, Ind. He was from my na- 
tive parish. When I visited Philadelphia in June last, to obtain 
some material for this history from the library of the Presbyterian 
Historical Society, he was just closing his labors as one of the 
Secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of Education. My business, 
which led me to his room, at once interested him ; and he related 
an anecdote of Dr. Hillyer which is worth preserving. The inci- 
dent was told him by the latter when he was with him in the re- 
vival above mentioned. 

A Methodist clergyman sometime previously had visited Orange, 
and preached at a private house where a lady of that denomination 
resided. There were at that time very few Methodists in the 
place. It was the evening of Dr. Hillyer's lecture, and the Doctor, 
on his way home from his own service, passing the place, saw 
quite a crowd assembled, some of them standing outside the door, 
among whom was a man of his own society, who seldom went to 
church. The next day, meeting this man, the conversation turned 
upon the Methodist preacher, and he was asked what he thought 
of him. " Why, I thought this," replied Dr. H., " that I ought to 
be thankful to God for sending a man here to preach His gospel 
who can get the attention of such men as you. My preaching does 



DEED OF THE ACADEMY. 189 

We know not the particular aspects of the work. 
Nearly a hundred conversions were reported the 
next spring. As in previous revivals, the awaken- 
ing was simultaneous in Orange and Newark. 

Some changes worthy of notice occurred about 
this time, affecting the Orange Academy. Mr. 
Hillyer, like his predecessor, had served the institu- 
tion as a trustee and a patron. In 1823, we find 
associated with him as trustees, Stephen D. Day, 
Doctor Daniel Babbit, John M. Lindsley, Daniel D. 
Condit, Abraham "Winans and Samuel W. Tiche- 
nor. Of those who originally held the property by 
a deed of trust, John Condit was yet living, but 
had removed to Jersey City. It was necessary the 
title should now rest in others, and accordingly, in 
November, 1823, it was conveyed by him to the 
acting board of trustees. The terms of the deed in- 
dicate that the Academy had ceased to be, if it ever 
was such, in any sense a parochial institution ; * it 

you no good, for you don't come to hear it. If another can draw 
you out, I shall be glad, and still more if he is made an instrument 
in bringing you into the kingdom of God." The result was, that 
the man was seen at Dr. Hillyer's next inquiry meeting, and was 
soon a member of his church. 

° The deed says : " To be kept and held by the trustees of the 
aforesaid academy forever in trust, (agreeable to the above conveyance 
to myself and others, which is as follows) : for all the inhabitants in 
general of the place and neighborhood of Orange, to be and remain a 
place for an academy, which shall be for the itse of a public school. 
I'urthermore, it is the true intent and meaning of these presents,'' 






190 RELIGIOUS CHANGES. 

being affirmed to be " the true intent and meaning" 
of the conveyance, " that no particular sect or pro- 
fession of people in said place shall have any right 
to said premises on account of the profits which 
may arise from it more than another ; but it shall 
be and remain for the purpose of a good public and 
moral school of learning, for the use of all the in- 
habitants which now are or ever shall be in said 
Orange, to the end of time." These terms indicate 
the religious changes which thirty -eight years had 
gradually effected in the community. 

Yet the population of Orange, until this period, 
adhered so generally to the doctrines and polity of 
the Presbyterian church, that no movement was 
made to collect a congregation on any other basis. 
Persons who belonged to other communions, or 
were drawn to them, either went to Newark to 
worship, or consented to forego their preferences. 
It speaks much for the vitality of our system, that 
it struck its life so deep, and maintained its growth 
so long, without decay and without division. It 
was guarded and fostered by no State patronage. 
It was planted in a field open to the freest competi- 

&c. The quotation from the original conveyance shows that the 
institution had never, in form, been denominational ; while the 
furthermore shows that something more explicit upon the point 
was now felt to be needed in the title. It may be added that this 
was inadvertently given by Mr. Condit in his own right, and not 
as a trustee ; a defect subsequently remedied by the Legislature. 



191 



tion. Yet it held the ground, almost unquestioned, 
for a century. Evidently it had taken deep root in 
the convictions and affections of a free, intelligent 
and Bible-loving people. An established church may 
be held up by the civil arm . A lordly and showy 
hierarchy, claiming apostolic sanctity, and clothed 
with mystery and magnificence, may draw the world 
wondering after it by its very arrogance and excess 
of gorgeous absurdities. The Presbyterian churches 
of New Jersey borrowed no strength from these 
sources. They claimed no exclusive commission 
from God. They had no captivating ceremonies. 
They had neither monarchy nor hierarchy in their 
favor. The Church-of-England sympathies of the 
Provincial Government were long against them. 
Whence came their vigorous life? What gave 
them so long and so strong a position in the intel- 
lects and hearts of men trained to piety and thought 
and freedom ? The question is not asked invidious- 
ly or boastfully. We would gratefully honor the 
goodness of God, and we shall be pardoned for 
calling attention to the favor he has bestowed on a 
church we venerate ; by those at least who know 
our cordial fellowship with others, drawing their 
creed and life from the Everlasting Word. 

In 1825, Eev. Benjamin Holmes, a missionary 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, residing in 
Morristown, made Orange a part of his missionary 
circuit His appointments here were monthly- 









192 



DEATH OF MRS. IIILLYER. 



At the end of two years — April 7, 1827 — a church 
was organized. The corner-stone of a house of 
worship was laid May 12, 1828, and the house 
consecrated February 20, 1829. In the following 
May, the church had thirteen communicants and 
fifty pew-holders. In June, Eev. William E. Whit- 
tingham, now bishop of the Maryland diocese, was 
settled over it. He remained about a year. The 
church is Saint Mark's, now under the rectorship 
of the Eev. James A. Williams. 

The coincidence may here be noted, that the 
First Church exhibited at this time the largest 
membership it has ever enrolled. It reported in 
1827 more than six hundred communicants. It 
had grown to repletion. The population of the 
parish was increasing. There was a demand for 
more laborers ; the Lord of the harvest sent them. 

But a cloud of sorrow was now gathering over 
the pastor's home. Many a joy had inspired him 
in his fruitful labors. Eichest blessings had de- 
scended upon his flock. He had been a minister 
of comfort to hundreds of mourning penitents and 
to many afflicted homes. He was now to feel the 
loss of one who had been often a comforter to him. 
Mrs. Hillyer, whose health had been long declin- 
ing, was removed by death, April 4, 1828. She 
died much regretted, the mother of four sons and 
three daughters. The ladies of the congregation 
caused a suitable headstone to be put over her 



METHODIST CHURCH. 193 

grave — a permanent memorial of their esteem and 
sorrow. 

Left to a lonely ministry at the age of sixty-five 
years, and having now one of the largest parishes 
in the State, Dr. Hillyer was not averse to receiv- 
ing, in the year following this bereavement, the 
assistance of a colleague. With this arrangement 
in view, he entered into an agreement that for 
seven years succeeding the first of May, 1829, he 
would accept of an annual salary of $920, instead 
of the $1,155 which he then received. At the 
expiration of that term, he was to receive $800 
per annum during his natural life.* In the selec- 
tion of an associate, the choice of the congregation 
fell upon Mr. George Pierson, a native of the parish. 
Having finished his education at Princeton, and 
preached here with acceptance as a licentiate, he 
was ordained as co-pastor June 22, 1829. 

Another division of the Christian army set up 
soon their banner. It has been thought to be the 
peculiar mission of Methodism to do pioneer work, 
but it has not restricted itself to this, nor are its 
capabilities and adaptations limited to it. It en- 
tered the field here at a late day — at once a gleaner 

« By a later agreement, made in 1834, he accepted $600 per 
annum, and a donation of $1,000. This was after the separation 
of the Second Church. Five-sevenths of the whole were to be 
paid by this Society ; the arrangement to go into effect from the 
1st of April, 1833- 



194 PKESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 

and a cultivator. A society was formed in 1829 
by the Eev. (now Dr.) John Kennaday, who had 
charge at that time of the Halsey street church, 
Newark. It numbered about fifteen members. 
He preached at first in the old Academy, but after- 
ward in the Masonic Hall, which was hired and 
fitted up for the purpose by two members of the 
society. The church was soon attached to the 
Belleville circuit. In 1830 and the following year 
a plain wooden edifice was built, which has since 
given place to a larger and more tasteful structure 
of brick and stone. 

The process of disintegration had now fairly 
begun. The rock which had received no visible- 
fracture from the wear and friction and civil agita- 
tions of a hundred years, was beginning to part. 
Each fragment, as it fell, helped to dislodge anoth- 
er. The spirit of religious enterprise was conta- 
gious. The old church was to become the mother 
of two daughters, to be henceforth nursed at her 
side. 

Two colonies were planted in the spring and 
summer of 1831. The earliest was in March, when 
a hundred and eighteen members, accompanied 
by the junior pastor, were dismissed, to be organ- 
ized as the Second Presbyterian Church. Among 
them were four elders — Adonijah Osmun, John 
Nicol, Aaron Peck, and Peter Campbell. Mr. 
Osmun had belonged to the eldership in this church 



DIVISION OF FUND. 195 

sixteen years, and at the end of twenty-eight more 
has not laid his office down. Mr. Nicol had been 
an elder ten years, and still remains with his vener- 
able associate in the sister church. Mr. Campbell 
has deceased. The organization was effected the 
26th of April ; the pastor installed November 15th, 
During the same year a house of worship was 
built, which has recently been improved and fur- 
nished with an organ. The church has gone for- 
ward under four ministries in a path of steady 
prosperity. 

In May, twenty-nine members were dismissed, 
who on the 13th of June were constituted as a 
Presbyterian church at South Orange. Elder 
Samuel Freeman was one of the number, a grand- 
son of the " Deacon Samuel Freeman " who con- 
tributed to the old parsonage in 1748, He lived 
only four years to assist in building up the new 
society. The first minister was Eev. Cyrus Gil- 
dersleeve, an uncle of the elder now with us who 
bears the name. Mr. Gildersleeve preached there 
as stated supply till the first of May, 1883. This 
church gathered around it the families belonging 
to the southern part of the parish. 

The two new societies considering themselves 
entitled to a share of the fund belonging to this 
parish, it was agreed that they should "receive 
and enjoy two-sevenths each of the fund belonging 
to the First Congregation, at the expiration of the 






196 REV. E. F. HATFIELD. 

existing contract with Dr. Hillyer." It is not 
known what amounts were distributed under this 
arrangement, but they are said to have been incon- 
siderable. 

It is unnecessary to enter into an explanation of 
the particular causes which led to these movements. 
They were not of a nature to create any perma- 
nent barriers to a cordial fellowship between the 
churches separated. Dr. Hillyer never ceased to 
regard with a pastor's affection those w r ho had so 
long been members of his flock, nor to be regarded 
by them with a reverence almost filial. He looked 
upon them all as his children, and to the end of 
his life had the freedom of three pulpits, in which 
his venerable form was always a welcome presence. 

By Mr. Pierson's removal to another charge, the 
entire care of the old society again devolved upon 
him. It was, however, but for a short period. 
Daring the year 1832, he was assisted six months 
by Eev. Edwin F. Hatfield, who was then just 
entering upon the ministerial work, and whose 
labors here were attended with a signal blessing. 
It was a year long to be remembered in the parish, 
and indeed throughout the land.* In the general 

* " During July and August the cholera prevailed in New- 
York, and the town [Orange] was full of people. The big church 
also was filled every Sabbath w T ith earnest hearers." Mr. Hatfield 
was here from the first of March to September, i: preaching four 
times weekly in OraDge during the whole time, and frequently in 






dr. hillyer's resignation. 197 

awakening and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this 
congregation was permitted largely to share, though 
the results were not equal to those of the revivals 
of 1807 and 1817. Sixty and more were added to 
the church. The thoughts of the people turned to 
Mr. Hatfield as a candidate for the co-pastorate, 
but he decided in favor of a western field, and was 
soon after settled in St. Louis. His subsequent 
ministry has been in the city of New York, where 
he still labors with undiminished usefulness. Of 
those who were brought into the kingdom under 
Dr. Hatfield's preaching here, a considerable num- 
ber remain with us, who remember him with great 
affection. 

At the close of this season of special labor and 
rejoicing, Dr. Hillyer laid down the responsibilities 
of a charge which he had now held for thirty-one 
years. He was dismissed on the 12th of February, 
1833, and his successor, who had occupied the pul- 
pit from October, was installed the day following. 
From that time till his death, he preached occasion- 
ally on the Sabbath, attended religious meetings in 
the week, and devoted himself to visitation. For 
this he had a fondness, to which were attributable 
in no small degree the warm personal attachments 
he had won. The writer is informed by one of his 
family that he used to employ five days of the 

the towns round about; boarding with the pastor." Letter from 
Dr. Hatfield. 



198 OLD AND XEW SCHOOL. 

week in pastoral labors, reserving Saturday for the 
exclusive business of the study. His mind was 
doubtless occupied through the week with the sub- 
jects upon which he was to preach. The work of 
Saturday was to collect and arrange his thoughts, 
and to draw the outlines of his discourses, which 
he seldom wrote out in full. Others may question 
whether he did not exalt the pastor at the expense 
of the preacher, whether he did not magnify one 
part of his office to the diminishing of the other. 
We think it can hardly have been otherwise. We 
do not see how such a distribution of his labors 
could have given scope for the full development of 
his power in the pulpit. But it was an error, if 
such, on the side most easily excused. If criticism 
was provoked, it was by the same cause disarmed. 
The people loved him, and their charity would 
have covered more faults than could ordinarily 
have been laid to the account of his public dis- 
courses. About seven hundred persons were 
brought into the communion of the church under 
his ministry. 

The division of the General Assembly in 1837 
left Dr. Hillyer on the side of the New School. 
The event was by him deplored, but it never 
affected his fraternal relations with those from 
whom he was ecclesiastically separated. He recom- 
mended mutual forbearance and charity, and en- 
joyed to the end of his life, which was now near at 



FRATERNAL COUNSELS. 199 

hand, the unabated good-will and warm personal 
esteem of prominent men in both divisions of the 
church. Among his last public efforts was a ser- 
mon preached before the Synod of Newark, from 
the words of Abraham to Lot : " Let there be no 
strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and be- 
tween my herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we be 
brethren. Is not the whole land before thee ?" &c. 
(Gen. 13 : 8, 9.) He urged that there was ample 
room in our vast country for the fullest activity 
and expansion of both Assemblies, and, holding 
up the noble example of the Hebrew patriarch, 
" Let all," said he, " who have interest at the throne 
of grace, and all who love the Eedeemer and the 
Church which he purchased with His own blood, 
unite their prayers and their influence for the spread 
of this benevolent, this heavenly principle. Be- 
loved brethren, (he added,) permit me as your elder 
brother, as one who has borne the heat and burden 
of the day, and whose departure is at hand, affec- 
tionately to press these remarks upon the Synod 
now convened. We are indeed a little band. 
Separated from many whom we love, we occupy a 
small part of the vineyard of our common Lord. 
But let us not be discouraged. Let none of our 
efforts to do good be paralyzed by the circum- 
stances into which we have been driven. Eather 
let us with increased zeal and diligence cultivate 
the field which we are called to occupy, while we 



200 THE LAST COMMUNION. 

are always ready to cooperate with our brethren in 
every part of the land in spreading the Gospel of 
the grace of God, and in saving a wretched world 
from ruin." In these noble sentiments we hear an 
echo of the voice which spoke to the Synod of 
1787. Counsels wise and kind from the Orange 
pulpit accompanied the formation of the General 
Assembly. Counsels wise and kind were heard 
from the same quarter when the harmony of sixty 
years was broken. The pen of history may with 
gratitude record, that the spirit by which they were 
dictated has not passed away, but is more and more 
pervading and prevalent throughout the Christian 
world. 

In two or three months after his appearance be- 
fore the Synod, Dr. Hillyer was seized with an 
illness that was to hasten the departure which he 
felt to be at hand. As the winter advanced, his 
strength visibly declined. It was hoped that he 
would rally with the return of warm weather, but 
the hope was not realized. On the oth of July he 
stood up for the last time to address the people. 
It was at a communion, when about thirty persons 
made a profession of their faith, and sat down to 
commemorate a Saviour's death ; the fruit of a re- 
vival in whose scenes his weak condition had not 
allowed him to have any active participation. The 
following Sabbath his hands were lifted in benedic- 
tion over the assembly. This was his last minis- 



DEATH OF DR. HILLYER. 201 

terial act. As the end approached, he welcomed 
it ; retaining his consciousness apparently till the 
spirit took its flight. "I am not afraid to die, said 
he, on recovering from a fainting fit. "I have not 
the wonderful views of Payson in his dying hours, 
nor have I lived such a life. But God is a great 
deal better to me now than I had any reason to 
expect. I had no expectation that one no more 
faithful than I have been would be favored with so 
much serenity and joy in the closing scene." The 
doctrines of grace which he had preached now 
yielded to him their richest consolations. He ex- 
pired during the evening of the 28th of August, 
1840. His funeral was attended by a large con- 
course of people, embracing all classes. The rich 
and the poor met together. The aged and the 
young felt they had lost a friend. 

His funeral sermon was preached by Kev. Dr. 
Fisher, who also composed the following inscrip- 
tion for the tablet seen on the west side of the 
pulpit. 



202 



TABLET INSCRIPTION. 



RET. ASA HILLYER, D. D., 
Was born at Sheffield, Massachusetts: 

April 6th, 1765. 

He graduated at Yale College, 1786. 

He was ordained and installed Pastor 

of the Presbyterian Church of Madison, 

New Jersey, Sept. 29th, 1789. 

On the 22d of July, 1801, at his own request 

He was dismissed from that congregation, and 

on the 16th of Dec, 1801, he was installed 

Pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church in 

Orange, New Jersey. He died Aug. 28th, 1840, 

Aged 77 years 4 months and 22 days. 
DR. HILLYER was a pleasant and instructive 

COMPANION, A DEVOTED CHRISTIAN, SOUND IN THE 

FAITH, A LABORIOUS AND SUCCESSFUL PASTOR, 

WHO WATCHED OVER HIS FLOCK WITH PATERNAL 

TENDERNESS AND CARE, KIND AND COURTEOUS TO ALL 

WITH WHOM HE HAD INTERCOURSE. THERE WAS ONE 

DISTINGUISHING EXCELLENCY IN HIS CHARACTER, 
HE WAS EMPHATICALLY A PeACE-MaKER. He WAS 

a friend to the cause of literature and science, 

and for many years a trustee of the college 

of New Jersey. He was a leading and efficient 

member of most of those benevolent societies 

which have been instituted to extend the 

Redeemer's kingdom throughout the world. 

"Thy kingdom come," was the sincere desire of 

his heart as well as the prayer of his lips. 



The Memory of the Just is blessed. 



CHAPTEE VII. 
REV. WILLIAM C. WHITE. 

DR. HILLYER'S successor was Rev. William C. 
White. He was another son of Massachusetts 
— the mother of scholars and clergymen as well as 
of States. 

Mr. White was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire 
County, January 16, 1803. He was of Puritan 
stock, being a lineal descendant of Peregrine White, 
the first child of the Pilgrim exiles, who was born 
on the " Mayflower," after her arrival in Plymouth 
harbor, in 1620. His parents, of whom he was the 
second son, were Rev. Levi and Mary White, the 
latter being the oldest daughter of Rev. John Ser- 
geant, for many years a missionary among the 
Stockbridge Indians. 

He entered Williams College soon after Dr. 
Griffin became President of that institution, and 
graduated in 1826, in his twenty-fourth year, with 
one of the highest honors of his class. About 
three years subsequently, he began a course of 
theological study at Princeton. In the autumn of 






204 SETTLEMENT IN ORANGE. 

1830, he was licensed to preach, by the Berkshire 
Association, but continued his studies at the semi- 
nary another year. His first preaching was at 
East Machias, in the State of Maine, where he 
labored four months, with a special blessing on his 
labors. He was afterward engaged six months in 
Tyringham, Mass., leaving the latter place in the 
summer of 1832. In October of that year he ac- 
cepted an invitation to visit this parish. It was 
soon after Mr. Hatfield's temporary labors here had 
closed, and while the church was rejoicing over the 
fruits of a precious revival. The result of the 
acquaintance was the presentation of a call, which 
he decided upon accepting, in preference to one or 
two invitations which he is said to have had from 
other fields. On the 13th of the following Febru- 
ary, the day after Dr. Hilly er's dismission, he was 
ordained and installed by the Presbytery of New- 
ark. Dr, Weeks preached. Dr. Hillyer gave the 
charge to the pastor, and Dr. Fisher to the people. 
The text of the day was 1 Tim. iv. 16— "Take 
heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue 
in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save 
thyself and them that hear thee." It was w r orthy 
to have been the motto of a ministerial life charac- 
teristically studious and single-aimed. 

He was now thirty years of age, and had been 
married a year and a half. The chosen associate of 
his life and ministry was Clarissa, daughter of 



VIEW OF THE PARISH. 229 

To the elders just named there were added in 
the following May, James Greacen, John Boynton, 
Ira Harrison and Dr. Stephen Wickes ; of whom 
the first two had held the same office in Brooklyn, 
the last in Troy, 1ST. Y. Erastus A. Graves and 
Cyrus S. Minor were at the same time added to the 
number of deacons. The two offices, which had 
so long been held together, were now separated, 
except in the person of the senior officer, Mr. Frost. 

The church had a membership of about two 
hundred and fifty, including those who had re- 
moved from the parish without a change of their 
church relations. The attendance upon the Sab- 
bath services was from five to six hundred. About 
a hundred and seventy-five families were comprised 
in the parish, though not all of them regular at- 
tendants upon public worship. Of those who held 
seats in the sanctuary, a few were members of 
another denomination, or by habit and preference 
connected with it, who were waiting for a church 
of their own order to be organized in this part of 
the town. There was a prosperous Sabbath-school, 
with about a hundred and fifty pupils, under the 
superintendence of Mr. Charles M. Saxton. The 
course of religious services comprised a morning 
and afternoon preaching service on the Lord's day, 
one session of the Sabbath-school, a Sunday even- 
ing prayer-meeting, a Tuesday evening lecture, and 
a prayer-meeting sustained by Sunday-school teach- 
11 






230 VALLEY MISSION SCHOOL. 

ers and others, which was held on Friday evening 
at private residences. The last has been since 
transferred to the lecture-room, and made a congre- 
gational service. At various outposts of the parish, 
the pastor had regular preaching appointments. 

There was also a missionary Sabbath-school in 
the neighborhood now known as Orange Valley, 
between North and South Orange. This was 
originated in 1854 by Mr. James Greacen, then a 
new resident of the town. Having located his 
home in that vicinity, his heart was moved to 
undertake the work, and he devoted himself to it 
with untiring zeal to the end of his life. The 
school was assembled in the afternoon of the Sab- 
bath, after the second service at the church. It 
was gradually strengthened by the confidence which 
its success inspired. Teachers came in because 
they were needed, and these again drew in more 
children. Mr. Greacen, also, for a year and a half, 
kept up at the same place a Sunday evening relig- 
ious service, which was sometimes conducted by 
himself alone, and which seldom failed to draw 
together as many people as could be comfortably 
seated in the school-room. This he at last, with 
much reluctance, discontinued, from a conviction 
that his engagements and labors were too much for 
his strength. 

The writer, during the autumn that followed his 






NORTH ORANGE BAPTIST CHURCH. 231 

settlement, had a visitation of sickness which inter- 
rupted his work a little more than two months. 
It was a very sudden and violent attack of bilious 
fever, supposed to have been the result of a condi- 
tion of health which he brought with him to the 
parish. He had the year before been travelling in 
the West, where he contracted the ague and fever, 
from the effects of which he had not entirely re- 
covered. The present illness seized him in the 
pulpit, in the midst of a sermon, compelling a sus- 
pension of the service. It was the most critical 
sickness of his life. Though brought near the 
grave, he was by the goodness of God permitted to 
return to his labors, and to enjoy more vigorous 
health than before. 

We have already noticed the formation of a 
Baptist church at East Orange. Its distance from 
the families residing nearer the mountain led to a 
new movement by that denomination in 1857. 
The North Orange Baptist Church was constituted 
November 4th, with twenty-seven members, and 
on the following day was publicly recognized by a 
Council, who at the same time ordained to the min- 
istry Mr. Jerome B. Morse, the pastor elect. The 
moment was auspicious for such an enterprise. A 
powerful revival was just beginning in the place. 
The church shared the copious baptism, and now 
numbers above one hundred communicants. It 
worships in Waverly Hall. 






232 DEATH OF MR. GREACEN. 

~\Yhile the Council was convened for the ordina- 
tion service just mentioned, a devoted elder of this 
church was removed by death. It was the founder 
of the mission Sabbath-school — a man of pure 
mind and earnest purpose, a Christian whose aim 
was single, a church officer able and faithful. He 
threw into the cause of his Eedeemer all the ener- 
gies of his mind and body. On a Sabbath during 
his sickness, feeling unable to meet his Sunday- 
school, he sat up and wrote to the children a short 
letter. The sun shone in brightly at his window, 
and his feelings caught a sympathetic glow. He 
w r rote of the beautiful sunlight, and of the brighter 
light that filled his soul from the Sun of Eighteous- 
ness. Heaven was coming near. In a few days 
his body was laid in the vault of the cemetery, to 
which it w r as followed by a long procession. He 
died at the age of forty-two. The oldest child and 
only daughter of the pastor was laid beside him 
six weeks afterward, in her tenth year. 

Grod was smiting the shepherd and taking the 
sheep. But He smote with the rod of His faithful- 
ness. 

These events were in the midst of a financial 
crisis which was spreading anxiety and gloom over 
the whole country. But a new and marvellous 
religious movement was also beginning. The un- 
certainties on which even colossal fortunes were 
seen to stand, were leading men, and especially 






REVIVAL OF 1858. 233 

Christian men, to think more of the true riches. 
There was everywhere a quickening of the relig- 
ious life. The churches of Orange felt it. 

The first manifestations of the revival were in 
the Second congregation, and in that its greatest 
power was witnessed. In the First church, the 
death of Elder Greacen, followed by a death in the 
pastor's family, made a visible impression. The 
week before the latter occurred, the annual visita- 
tion of the church by a deputation of the Presby- 
tery took place. The visitors were Eev. Kobert 
Aikman, of Elizabeth, and Eev. Dr. Eowland, of 
the Park church, Newark. A good attendance 
was secured, and the religious feeling was percepti- 
bly deepened. In January, a daily morning prayer- 
meeting was commenced, which was held in the 
lecture-room. This was continued till June. It 
was a five-month series of those happy scenes 

" where spirits blend, 

Where friend holds fellowship with friend." 

Christians came together " with one accord." All 
classes were represented. The New York mer- 
chant was present, to leave a prayer and a blessing 
behind, ere he stepped upon the train. The Orange 
merchant, lawyer, physician, tradesman and farmer 
were there, with wives and daughters, agreed as 
touching the things they came to ask. . A similar 
meeting, which was earlier established, and which 



234 



DAILY PRAYER-MEETINGS. 






continued more than a year, was held every morn- 
ing in the lecture-room of the Second church. 
The other denominations had also their special 
services ; while in March, a union noonday prayer- 
meeting was instituted at Willow Hall, which was 
kept up two months or more, and in all the meet- 
ings there were frequent and pleasant interchanges 
by members of the different churches. Pastors 
and private Christians were mutually stimulated to 
zeal and love by this intercourse. And He who 
gives and rewards each grace, made their zeal and 
love, their prayers and appeals, mighty in the sal- 
vation of others. 

The distinguishing features of this revival were 
the same here as elsewhere. It exhibited, in a pe- 
culiar manner, the signs of a divine work. In no 
previous awakening were human agencies less con- 
spicuous, and the immediate power of God more 
manifest. The Holy Spirit came not down, indeed, 
in tongues of fire. His influences were rather like 
those of the sun, invisible, diffusive, still, yet work- 
ing in the deepest life of the church. 

These influences were remarkably connected with 
prayer as a means. There was a general and extra- 
ordinary spirit of prayerfulness among Christians 
of the different denominations. A new and mys- 
terious attraction drew people to the prayer-meet- 
ings. Those who never before attended were now 
seen, and those who came but seldom were now 






DISCOVERED GIFTS. 235 

regular attendants. Men who had never prayed 
in public would rise and offer prayer with great 
readiness and fervor. And even while they were 
calling upon God, were answers given in the con- 
version of souls. 

With this increase of prayerfulness there was a 
wonderful increase of zeal and activity among 
private Christians. This was throughout the coun- 
try a prominent characteristic of the work. It may 
be doubted whether, since the days of the Apostles, 
there has been so large a development of the lay 
talent of the churches. Long-buried gifts were ex- 
humed. The lame be^an to walk and the dumb 
to speak. The praying force of the First church 
was doubled. Men began to appreciate their long- 
neglected privileges. Christians of both sexes 
were stirred up to extraordinary efforts for bring- 
ing to Christ the unconverted around them. And 
it was most interesting to see how a few words, 
kindly spoken by a friend, were often the power of 
God to the salvation of those whom the Word 
preached had never visibly affected. The days 
had come, of which it was said, " I will pour out of 
my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy." And while individual 
Christians were thus " speaking the truth in love, 
and growing up into Him in all things, which is the 
head, even Christ : the whole body, fitly joined to- 
gether and compacted by that which every joint sup- 



236 



A FALSE IMPRESSION. 



plied, according to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part, made increase of the body 
unto the edifying of itself in love." 

The unusual attention that was drawn to the 
prayer-meetings, and the manifest success that fol- 
lowed the faithful endeavors of private Christians, 
created impressions in some minds to the disparage- 
ment of the ministry. While the secular papers 
were giving daily reports of the progress and inci- 
dents of the revival, it was more than once hinted 
by them that this was a work which lay outside of 
the sphere of ministerial labor. The great Head 
of the church, it was intimated, was not in this case 
saving men and carrying His kingdom forward by 
the foolishness of preaching, but setting that aside for 
another agency, or, at least, subordinating it to the 
latter. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 
The idea arose, evidently, from the fact, that the 
revival was not promoted by the labors of men 
known as revival preachers, but went on in connec- 
tion with the ordinary or extraordinary labors of 
the pastors. It was a harvest for which they had 
long been preparing the ground, and there was 
no class of laborers more active in gathering it. 
Ministers were everywhere leaders in the work. 
Each had his hands so full of it that they could 
scarcely assist one another. They added to their 
preaching appointments. They conducted prayer- 
meeting?. They had meetings for inquirers. They 



UNION OF CHEISTIANS. 237 

spent much time with those who came to converse 
with them privately, and much in their labors from 
house to house. Never were the spiritual husband- 
men more busy, and never were their labors more 
blessed. It was the admirable union and harmony 
of the instruments employed — ministers and lay- 
men, male and female, in the pulpit, the prayer- 
meeting, the Sabbath-school, and elsewhere — that 
made the agency of the ministry less conspicuous. 

A most delightful characteristic of the work was 
seen in the flowing together of the people of God 
without regard to their denominational peculiari- 
ties. The old walls of sectarian prejudice and 
jealousy seemed broken down. Christians came 
together, with one heart, to pray for the outpouring 
of God's Spirit, and to praise Him for His mighty 
acts. The watchmen saw eye to eye. They were 
agreed as touching the things they asked. They 
united in song without the least apparent concern 
as to what collection the hymn belonged. It was 
often observed, that none could tell a man's church 
connections by the prayers he offered. The citizens 
of Zion spoke one dialect, and poured out their 
desires before God in a common strain of suppli- 
cation. 

Another observable feature was the quietude 

with which the religious meetings were conducted. 

There was none of the extravagance to which great 

excitements sometimes lead. The praying assem- 

11* 












238 THE SECULAR PRESS. 

blies were solemnly joyful. Sobriety and good 
order blended with the liveliest zeal . The religious 
feeling, like a deep river, was profoundly calm, 
while the current flowed on with majestic strength. 

These several facts may account for another. 
The work encountered little of opposition or ridi- 
cule from the world. It was contemplated and 
spoken of with great respect by those who took no 
personal interest in it; excepting, of course, the 
zealous advocates of religious theories antagonistic 
to it. While it was ridiculed by the ultra-ecclesi- 
astical and the ultra-liberal religious journals, it was 
treated by the more respectable secular papers as a 
grand religious movement, and a true development 
of the Christian life. They noted its progress. 
They reported its incidents ; and men of the world 
generally appeared to regard, with respectful awe, 
a work of which the majesty and might, the depth 
and the extent, were such as proved it to be the 
work of God. 

The subjects of the revival were found among 
all classes, yet it was easily discernible that God 
was working according to the established laws of 
His grace, in the conversion of those, especially, 
who belonged to pious families, or were under cor- 
rect religious instruction. The Sabbath-schools of 
the evangelical churches were particularly a field 
which the Lord blessed. Even children gave de- 
lightful evidence of having an intelligent experi- 



SUBJECTS OF THE REVIVAL. 239 

ence of the things of God. It was now seen that 
truth which had lain upon the mind, apparently 
without life, had not been put there in vain. The 
seed had received an invisible watering. It had 
felt the quickening warmth of the Sun of Eight- 
eousness. In some cases, fathers and mothers, long- 
in heaven, saw their prayers answered and their 
last earthly desire fulfilled, in the conversion of 
their children. And it required no very close at- 
tention to discover the fruits of an abundant seed- 
sowing by the Christian press. The stirring thoughts 
and earnest appeals of men who, being dead, yet 
speak, were now awakening a simultaneous response 
in many hearts, under the gracious operation of 
the Spirit of Life. Of the class of people who are 
little reached, or not at all, by the direct influences 
of the sanctuary and the religious press, compara- 
tively few were reached by the revival. We speak 
now of this place particularly, though we believe 
the statement would hold generally true. The 
union prayer-meeting, established in one of our 
public halls, was designed especially to draw in a 
class who would never attend a prayer-meeting 
elsewhere, and who habitually neglected the house 
of God. For a time the object was, in a measure, 
realized. The novelty of such a noonday gather- 
ing attracted a good many to it. But their curi- 
osity was soon satisfied. The Gospel had had too 
little connection with their thoughts and habits of 



2-10 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 









life to admit of a long-continued interest in the 
exercises of a prayer-meeting, or of any deep im- 
pression from the services they witnessed. There 
were some, however, of this class, who were reached 
and rescued by the infinite mercy of God, and 
whose feet were turned to a way they had long de- 
spised. 

The happy flow of Christian love in the prayer- 
meetings was the occasion of an impression — a 
quite general one — which we believe to have been 
erroneous. It has been supposed that the penalties 
affixed to moral law have had little force in this 
awakening, and have been little appealed to in the 
way of motive to bring sinners to repentance. It 
has been said, and with apparent satisfaction, that 
ministers have ceased to operate upon the fears of 
men, having learned the more excellent way of at- 
tracting them heavenward by the power of love. 
The statement has more the appearance than the 
reality of truth. For behind the prayer-meeting, 
which has stood foremost in the public view, have 
stood pulpits in which ministers have not shunned 
to declare the whole counsel of God. They never 
ceased to hold up the law in its proper relations to 
the cross of Christ — that law by which comes the 
knowledge of sin, and which the Eedeemer came, 
not to destroy, but -to fulfil. Nor can it be that 
that divine Agent, whose first work as the Com- 
forter is to convince men of sin, of righteousness, 



NEW METHODIST CHURCH. 241 

and of j udgment to come, would have sanctioned 
a policy at variance with His own, by the bestowal 
of such blessings as the church has received. 

This revival added to the different churches of 
Orange between three and four hundred communi- 
cants, — the First church receiving about fifty. Its 
results were greater in the township, but less in this 
congregation, than those of the two revivals noticed 
in the earlier part of Dr. Hilly er's ministry. 

The Methodist congregation, w r hich was consider- 
ably strengthened by the revival, undertook at this 
time the building of a new house of worship. For 
the auspicious circumstances which gave rise to 
this undertaking, much credit might be accorded to 
the pastors who had successively served the con- 
gregation. The minister w r ho had just left the 
charge (Eev. James M. Freeman) had been espe- 
cially laborious. For three months and more, 
during the revival, he had conducted a religious 
service every evening in the week but Saturday, 
the service consisting of a short discourse, followed 
by a season of prayer and conversation with in- 
quirers. The building enterprise fell into the 
hands of Eev. Lewis K. Dunn. On the 15th of 
September, 1858, the corner-stone was laid for a 
neat Gothic edifice of brick, which was placed on 
the old site in Main street, the former house being 
removed to the rear, to be used for Sunday-school 
and other purposes. The building was completed 



242 



ORANGE GAS-WORKS. 









the next summer, and, on the 28th of July, was 
consecrated with appropriate services. This con- 
gregation, which has been steadily prosperous since 
it was known to the writer, has now before it the 
fairest promise of continued prosperity. 

At the last parish meeting of the First church, 
an appropriation was voted for the purpose of hav- 
ing the church and lecture-room lighted with gas, 
then about to be supplied to the village. The 
business has since been executed ; the Orange gas- 
works are in operation, and the time is evidently 
near when our citizens generally will enjoy, in 
their houses, the benefit of this agreeable illumina- 
tor. The gas-works, located in the valley near the 
west end of White street, were erected by Messrs. 
Hoy & Kennedy, of Trenton. 

The mission Sunday-school, which was founded 
by Mr. Greacen, in Orange Valley (at first called 
Freemantown), was, after his death, placed under 
the superintendence of Mr. Abraham Baldwin, by 
the unanimous desire of the teachers engaged in it. 
Mr. Baldwin had for some time been connected with 
it, and he has since devoted himself to its interests 
with peculiar earnestness. The enterprise, vigor- 
ously carried forward by him and his fellow- 
laborers, has been a remarkable success ; the school 
having now a roll of a hundred and seventy-five 
pupils. It shared the influences of the late revival 
in copious measure. Meetings for prayer were 



MISSION CHAPEL. 243 

held in the school-room several times a week, and 
for some time daily. Preaching services were also 
held, and the families in that neighborhood were 
visited by the superintendent and others, the pas- 
tor participating so far as was compatible with the 
multiplicity of his engagements. About that time, 
the stated services of the Eev. Dr. Hay were en- 
gaged for the Sabbath afternoon, and a small but 
regular and promising congregation has been gath- 
ered under his labors there, which are still con- 
tinued. The Sabbath-school and congregation hav- 
ing become too large for a school-room, it was 
resolved, during the last summer, to provide for 
their use a chapel. The means required ($3,500) 
were promptly subscribed, and the work was im- 
mediately begun. A site for the edifice was select- 
ed, the ground being donated by Mr. Ira Tompkins. 
The stone was soon on its way from the quarry. 
On the 12th of September, the corner-stone was 
laid by Dr. Hay, with suitable ceremonies, in pres- 
ence of a numerous assemblage of the surrounding 
residents. The building fronts upon a new street, 
soon to be opened, on a line between the Orange 
Yalley railroad-station and the mountain. This 
enterprise, which is yet of a missionary character, 
will ere long add another to the growing list of 
Orange churches. 

The Sunday-school formed in 1816, for the ben- 
efit of the colored population, — it being previous to 



244 AFRICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

their emancipation, — was, in process of time, dis- 
continued. For many years, while they were wast- 
ing in numbers, no special provision was made for 
their religious instruction. They have continued to 
be sparsely mingled with the general population of 
the town, and with the membership of its churches. 
In the summer of 1857, one of the youngest of the 
female members of this church, having just conse- 
crated herself to the service of the Meek and Lowly, 
undertook the instruction of a colored class at the 
close of the afternoon service of the Sabbath. The 
class increased till others joined her. As it con- 
tinued to grow in numbers and interest, the need 
was felt of a gentleman to superintend the exer- 
cises. This service was kindly undertaken by Mr. 
Jarvis M. Fairchild, who has continued to perform 
it, except when absent from the place for the re- 
covery of his health. The labors bestowed upon 
this hitherto neglected class are a praise- worthy 
exhibition of the spirit of Christian love. 

We have now reached the end of a history which, 
from the first settlements in Newark, has been 
brought down through a period of nearly two hun- 
dred j^ears. As we have followed it, our thoughts 
have blended w r ith the life of six generations. We 
have seen, indeed, but little of their inner life, and 
we have taken but a cursory view of what was 
outward and historical ; but we have seen enough 






CLOSING THOUGHTS. 245 

to beget a feeling of sympathy with, these men of 
the past, who once walked upon the same soil, 
looked upon the same landscape, worshipped the 
same God, and lived for the same high purpose 
with ourselves. They have transmitted to us a 
goodly heritage. Their language is ours ; their 
faith is ours ; the fruits of their toil and suffering 
are oiirs. Well may we cherish their memories ! 

How much do we owe to the enterprise, how 
much to the patience and piety, of these men of 
other days ! As we walk into the old graveyard, 
and brush the grey moss from their tomb-stones, 
we may read upon each, or almost each, the name 
of a benefactor. They lived for the future. They 
cleared the soil, built the sanctuary, founded Chris- 
tian institutions, and labored together in the gos- 
pel work, not less for us than for themselves. 
They had posterity in their thoughts, and the 
prayer went often up from their hearths and their 
altars, that the institutions which they planted 
might live, and the blessings which they enjoyed 
might be perpetuated through many generations. 

Nor to them only is this debt of gratitude due. 
There was a power above them, a wisdom higher 
and a purpose mightier than theirs. He who 
liveth for ever and ever wrought in them and 
by them for the carrying out of His own plans, 
for the perpetuity and increase of that " Church 
of the living Grod" to which all human histories 






246 PLANS OF PROVIDENCE. 

belong. It is His divine counsels that bind the 
centuries together. His providence unites in one 
grand system all that is past with all that is pres- 
ent and to come. " He only hath immortality," 
and but for Him they and their works would have 
perished together. Yet their works have followed 
them. The Church, which they founded still rests 
upon the rock on which they laid its foundations. 
The gospel which they loved, and for whose de- 
fence they were set, is still proclaimed, and be- 
lieved, and made the power of God unto salvation. 
Others have entered into their labors, while they 
have entered into their rest. And this Providence 
is still over the world, over the Church, over the 
present generation. And it will save all that is 
worth saving in their works. It carries a fan in its 
hand. It separates the chaff from the wheat, burn- 
ing the one, while it garners the other. Of its net- 
gatherings of all kinds, both good and bad, the 
good only is permanently preserved ; the bad is, 
sooner or later, cast away. There is, somehow 
or other, under Providence, a peculiar vitality in 
truth and virtue — in that which is like God. The 
memory of the just is blessed, while the wicked 
perish and are forgotten. The institutions of the 
Church abide, while the world passeth away, and 
the lust thereof. He who sits upon the throne, 
judging right, will eternally guard the great inter- 
ests of His spiritual kingdom. With Him the 



SOCIAL PROGRESS. 247 

Church is safe. In Him all institutions of His es- 
tablishing have a strength, a power, a life, that de- 
fies decay. 

These truths have their illustration in the history 
here given. The great lahd-monopoly. which so 
long embarrassed the New Jersey settlements, and 
interfered with their prosperity, has come to end. 
The evils inseparable from the old colonial govern- 
ment, administered by a power too remote to feel 
a due sympathy with its subjects, have ceased to 
exist. An unfortunate people, long held in unprof- 
itable and dangerous bondage, have been emanci- 
pated, and in a measure elevated. Many walls, 
built up and guarded by ecclesiastical bigotry and 
prejudice, have crumbled down. There is a far 
better understanding of the rights of property, the 
rights of labor, and the rights of conscience, than 
there was a hundred, or even fifty years ago. The 
knife of Providence has been gradually pruning 
the institutions whose planting and growth this 
history records. Much that was evil, and produc- 
tive of evil, has been removed. What was conso- 
nant with the genius of Christianity, and with the 
best interests of the future, has been preserved. 

Such a character we claim, in no exclusive and 
uncharitable spirit, for the Church around which 
the materials of this narrative have been gathered. 
"We are not given to ecclesiolatry. We have no 
reverence to spare for ancient temples of the truth 




248 WHAT WE CLAIM. 

from which the truth has fled. Our devotions are 
little drawn toward the once Christian sanctuary on 
whose dome the crescent has taken the place of the 
cross. We are well aware that error often en- 
shrines itself in sacred" places, to the expulsion of 
the truth ; that it assumes venerated names, and 
appears in the holiest livery ; and that it finds suf- 
ficient aliment in the nature of man to give it, if 
God permit, a long vitality. But we believe — and 
the most of our readers, if not every one, will, we 
think, accord to us thus much — that our venerable 
Church has stood as the representative and guardian 
of a faith essentially true ; that the candlestick upon 
its altar has been held by men honored and blessed 
of God ; that it has been a fortress of freedom, a 
defence of the gospel, a blessing to generations liv- 
ing and dead. This belief is entertained with no 
feeling of jealousy or disrespect toward the many 
lights that are now shining around it. May they 
evermore burn, fed by the olive of peace, and 
blending their many-colored radiance to illuminate 
and beautify the one living temple of the Holy 
Spirit ! 

The following churches now exist within the 
parochial limits occupied by this Society alone, in 
1825: 

1. The First Presbyterian Church, standing in 



EXISTING CHURCHES. 249 

Main street, near the North Orange depot. The 
Church was organized, in or about the year 1719, 
as an Independent Church ; became Presbyterian 
in 1748 ; was incorporated in 1783, as the Second 
Presbyterian Church in Newark ; received its 
present title in 1811. The average length of five 
consecutive pastorates, now ended, has been about 
twenty-seven years. Present membership, 326. 
Families of the parish, about 175. Pupils in the 
Sabbath-school, 135 ; Orange Yalley school, 175 ; 
school for colored persons, 15 to 20. 

2. St. Mark's Episcopal Church, organized in 
1827, at the junction of Main and Valley streets. 
Its house of worship was completed and conse- 
crated in 1829. Present rector, Eev. James A. 
Williams. Communicants, 161. Families and 
pew-holders, 88. 

3. Methodist Episcopal Church of North Orange, 
formed in 1829 ; situated in Main street, near Cen- 
ter. Its first house of worship was built in 1831 ; 
its second in 1859. Present membership, includ- 
ing probationers, 260. Minister in charge, Eev. 
Lewis K. Dunn. Sabbath-school attendance, from 
150 to 200. 

4. Second Presbyterian Church, corner of Main 
and Prospect streets. Organized in 1831. Mem- 
bers in communion, 417. Families, 185. Children 



250 EXISTING CHURCHES. 

in two Sabbath-schools, 200; mission-school, 50. 
Pastor, Eev. John Crowell. 

5. South Orange Presbyterian Church, organ- 
ized in 1831. Communicants, 157. Families, about 
100. Sabbath-school, 103. Pastor, Eev. Daniel 
G. Sprague. 

6. Baptist Church at East Orange, constituted 
in 1837. The present pastor is Eev. William D. 
Hedden. Communicants, 67. Sabbath-school, 50. 

7. Methodist Episcopal Church, South Orange. 
Formed in 1850. Persons in full membership, 20. 
The Society has a small house of worship, in which 
religious services are statedly held on the Sabbath, 
conducted by a local preacher. 

8. St. John's Eoman Catholic Church, built in 
1851. It is now in charge of Eev. John Murray. 
Communicants, about 750. Children receiving in- 
struction, 100. The church is situated on White 
street, near Boyd. 

9. Grace Episcopal Church, in Main, between 
Park and Hilly er streets. Organized in 1854. 
House of worship consecrated in 1858. Members 
in communion, 126. Families, 86. Sabbath- 
school, 64 to 70. Parishioners of both sexes, 380. 






EXISTING CHURCHES. 251 

10. Baptist Church of North Orange, constituted 
in 1857. Communicants, 100 ; Sabbath-school, 
150. The congregation meets for worship in 
Waverly Hall. Mr. Morse, finding his health im- 
paired, closed his ministry with this church Octo- 
ber 2, 1859. He has been succeeded by Eev. 
George Webster. 

11. A "New Church," or Swedenborgian Soci- 
ety, has held separate worship for the last two 
years under the ministrations of Eev. Benjamin F. 
Barrett. Its meetings, until last spring, were at 
Mr. Barrett's residence, on Main street. They are 
now held at Library Hall. 

12. A Protestant Episcopal Society was formed, 
in October, 1859, at South Orange. This new So- 
ciety is yet without a minister and a house of wor- 
ship. Its religious services are held in the Meth- 
odist Church. 

13. The Orange Valley congregation is not yet 
organized as a Church, but is erecting a house of 
worship. It comprises many families connected 
with the First Church, and has a flourishing 
Sabbath-school. Preaching by Eev. Philip C. 
Hay, D. D. 

14. A small congregation of German Protes- 
tants, mostly Lutheran, was gathered four or five 















252 UNION SCHOOLS. 

years ago, meeting at first in the lecture -room of 
the First Church, and afterward in Washington 
Hall. It has now a regular service on the Sab- 
bath at Bodwell's Hall, under the ministry of Kev. 
Gottfried Schmidt. 

In the Franklin school-house (Doddtown) a 
Union Sabbath-school is sustained, and also a 
weekly preaching service, at which the clergy of 
the different denominations officiate in turn. A 
similar service has for a year or two been held 
at the school-house on Valley street, near Williaras- 
ville. 

The Mission Sunday-school, established during 
the past year in Bodwell's Hall, where a weekly 
prayer-meeting is also held, is doing a useful work. 
It originated with members of the Second Church. 



VIEW OF THE PAKISH. 229 

To the elders just named there were added in 
the following May, James Greacen, John Boynton, 
Ira Harrison and Dr. Stephen Wickes ; of whom 
the first two had held the same office in Brooklyn, 
the last in Troy, ~N. Y. Erastus A. Graves and 
Cyrus S. Minor were at the same time added to the 
number of deacons. The two offices, which had 
so long been held together, were now separated, 
except in the person of the senior officer, Mr. Frost. 

The church had a membership of about two 
hundred and fifty, including those who had re- 
moved from the parish without a change of their 
church relations. The attendance upon the Sab- 
bath services w r as from five to six hundred. About 
a hundred and seventy-five families were comprised 
in the parish, though not all of them regular at- 
tendants upon public worship. Of those who held 
seats in the sanctuary, a few were members of 
another denomination, or by habit and preference 
connected with it, who were waiting for a church 
of their own order to be organized in this part of 
the town. There was a prosperous Sabbath-school, 
with about a hundred and fifty pupils, under the 
superintendence of Mr. Charles M. Saxton. The 
course of religious services comprised a morning 
and afternoon preaching service on the Lord's daj 7 , 
one session of the Sabbath-school, a Sunday even-, 
ing prayer-meeting, a Tuesday evening lecture, and 
a prayer-meeting sustained by Sunday-school teach - 
11 



230 VALLEY MISSION SCHOOL. 

ers and others, which was held on Friday evening 
at private residences. The last has been since 
transferred to the lecture-room, and made a congre- 
gational service. At various outposts of the parish, 
the pastor had regular preaching appointments. 

There was also a missionary Sabbath-school in 
the neighborhood now known as Orange Yalley, 
between North and South Orange. This was 
originated in 1854 by Mr. James Greacen, then a 
new resident of the town. Having located his 
home in that vicinity, his heart was moved to 
undertake the work, and he devoted himself to it 
with untiring zeal to the end of his life. The 
school was assembled in the afternoon of the Sab- 
bath, after the second service at the church. It 
was gradually strengthened by the confidence which 
its success inspired. Teachers came in because 
they were needed, and these again drew in more 
children. Mr. Greacen, also, for a year and a half, 
kept up at the same place a Sunday evening relig- 
ious service, which was sometimes conducted by 
himself alone, and which seldom failed to draw 
together as many people as could be comfortably 
seated in the school-room. This he at last, with 
much reluctance, discontinued, from a conviction 
that his engagements and labors were too much for 
his strength. 

The writer, during the autumn that followed his 



NORTH ORANGE BAPTIST CHURCH. 231 

settlement, had a visitation of sickness which inter- 
rupted his work a little more than two months. 
It was a very sudden and violent attack of bilious 
fever, supposed to have been the result of a condi- 
tion of health which he brought with him to the 
parish. He had the year before been travelling in 
the West, where he contracted the ague and fever, 
from the effects of which he had not entirely re- 
covered. The present illness seized him in the 
pulpit, in the midst of a sermon, compelling a sus- 
pension of the service. It was the most critical 
sickness of his life. Though brought near the 
grave, he was by the goodness of God permitted to 
return to his labors, and to enjoy more vigorous 
health than before. 

We have already noticed the formation of a 
Baptist church at East Orange. Its distance from 
the families residing nearer the mountain led to a 
new movement by that denomination in 1857. 
The North Orange Baptist Church was constituted 
November 4th, with twenty-seven members, and 
on the following day was publicly recognized by a 
Council, who at the same time ordained to the min- 
istry Mr. Jerome B. Morse, the pastor elect. The 
moment was auspicious for such an enterprise. A 
powerful revival was just beginning in the place. 
The church shared the copious baptism, and now 
numbers above one hundred communicants. It 
worships in Waverly Hall. 









232 DEATH OF MR. GREACEN. 

While the Council was convened for the ordina- 
tion service just mentioned, a devoted eider of this 
church was removed by death. It was the founder 
of the mission Sabbath-school — a man of pure 
mind and earnest purpose, a Christian whose aim 
was single, a church officer able and faithful. He 
threw into the cause of his Redeemer all the ener- 
gies of his mind and body. On a Sabbath- during 
his sickness, feeling unable to meet his Sunday- 
school, he sat up and wrote to the children a short 
letter. The sun shone in brightly at his window, 
and his feelings caught a sympathetic glow. He 
wrote of the beautiful sunlight, and of the brighter 
light that filled his soul from the Sun of Righteous- 
ness. Heaven was coming near. In a few days 
his body was laid in the vault of the cemetery, to 
which it was followed by a long procession. He 
died at the age of forty-two. The oldest child and 
only daughter of the pastor was laid beside him 
six weeks afterward, in her tenth year. 

God was smiting the shepherd and taking the 
sheep. But He smote with the rod of His faithful- 
ness. 

These events were in the midst of a financial 
crisis which was spreading anxiety and gloom over 
the whole country. But a new and marvellous 
religious movement was also beginning. The un- 
certainties on which even colossal fortunes were 
seen to stand, were leading men, and especially 



REVIVAL OF 1858. 233 

Christian men, to think more of the true riches. 
There was everywhere a quickening of the relig- 
ious life. The churches of Orange felt it. 

The first manifestations of the revival were in 
the Second congregation, and in that its greatest 
power was witnessed. In the First church, the 
death of Elder Greacen, followed by a death in the 
pastor's family, made a visible impression. The 
week before the latter occurred, the annual visita- 
tion of the church by a deputation of the Presby- 
tery took place. The visitors were Kev. Robert 
Aikman, of Elizabeth, and Rev. Dr. Rowland, of 
the Park church, Newark. A good attendance 
was secured, and the religious feeling was percepti- 
bly deepened. In January, a daily morning prayer- 
meeting was commenced, which was held in the 
lecture-room. This was continued till June. It 
was a five-month series of those happy scenes 

° where spirits blend, 

"Where friend holds fellowship with friend." 

Christians came together " with one accord." All 
classes were represented. The New York mer- 
chant was present, to leave a prayer and a blessing 
behind, ere he stepped upon the train. The Orange 
merchant, lawyer, physician, tradesman and farmer 
were there, with wives and daughters, agreed as 
touching the things they came to ask. A similar 
meeting, which was earlier established, and which 



234 



DAILY PRAYER-MEETINGS. 



continued more than a year, was held every morn- 
ing in the lecture-room of the Second church. 
The other denominations had also their special 
services ; while in March, a union noonday prayer- 
meeting was instituted at Willow Hall, which was 
kept up two months or more, and in all the meet- 
ings there were frequent and pleasant interchanges 
by members of the different churches. Pastors 
and private Christians were mutually stimulated to 
zeal and love by this intercourse. And He who 
gives and rewards each grace, made their zeal and 
love, their prayers and appeals, mighty in the sal- 
vation of others. 

The distinguishing features of this revival were 
the same here as elsewhere. It exhibited, in a pe- 
culiar manner, the signs of a divine work. In no 
previous awakening were human agencies less con- 
spicuous, and the immediate power of God more 
manifest. The Holy Spirit came not down, indeed, 
in tongues of fire. His influences were rather like 
those of the sun, invisible, diffusive, still, yet work- 
ing in the deepest life of the church. 

These influences were remarkably connected with 
prayer as a means. There was a general and extra- 
ordinary spirit of prayerfulness among Christians 
of the different denominations. A new and mys- 
terious attraction drew people to the prayer-meet- 
ings. Those who never before attended were now 
seen, and those who came but seldom were now 



DISCOVERED GIFTS. 235 

regular attendants. Men who had never prayed 
in public would rise and offer prayer with great 
readiness and fervor. And even while they were 
calling upon God, were answers given in the con- 
version of souls. 

TTith this increase of prayerfulness there was a 
wonderful increase of zeal and activity among 
private Christians. This was throughout the coun- 
try a prominent characteristic of the work. It may 
be doubted whether, since the days of the Apostles, 
there has been so large a development of the lay 
talent of the churches. Long-buried gifts were ex- 
humed. The lame began to walk and the dumb 
to speak. The praying force of the First church 
was doubled. Men began to appreciate their long- 
neglected privileges. Christians of both sexes 
w r ere stirred up to extraordinary efforts for bring- 
ing to Christ the unconverted around them. And 
it was most interesting to see how a few words, 
kindly spoken by a friend, were often the power of 
God to the salvation of those whom the Word 
preached had never visibly affected. The days 
had come, of which it was said, " I will pour out of 
my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy." And while individual 
Christians were thus " speaking the truth in love, 
and growing up into Him in all things, which is the 
head, even Christ : the whole body, fitly joined to- 
gether and compacted by that which every joint sup- 



286 . A FALSE IMPHESSION. 

plied, according to the effectual working in -the 
measure of every part, made increase of the body 
unto the edifying of itself in love." 

The unusual attention that was drawn to the 
prayer-meetings, and the manifest success that fol- 
lowed the faithful endeavors of private Christians, 
created impressions in some minds to the disparage- 
ment of the ministry. While the secular papers 
were giving daily reports of the progress and inci- 
dents of the revival, it was more than once hinted 
by them that this was a work which lay outside of 
the sphere of ministerial labor. The great Head 
of the church, it was intimated, was not in this case 
saving men and carrying His kingdom forward by 
the foolishness of preaching, but setting that aside for 
another agency, or, at least, subordinating it to the 
latter. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 
The idea arose, evidently, from the fact, that the 
revival was not promoted by the labors of men 
known as revival preachers, but went on in connec- 
tion with the ordinary or extraordinary labors of 
the pastors. It was a harvest for which they had 
long been preparing the ground, and there was 
no class of laborers more active in gathering it. 
Ministers were everywhere leaders in the work. 
Each had his hands so full of it that they could 
scarcely assist one another. They added to their 
preaching appointments. They conducted prayer- 
meetingF. They had meetings for inquirers. They 



UNION OF CHKISTIANS. 237 

spent much time with those who came to converse 
with them privately, and much in their labors from 
house to house. Never were the spiritual husband- 
men more busy, and never were their labors more 
blessed. It was the admirable union and harmony 
of the instruments employed — ministers and lay- 
men, male and female, in the pulpit, the prayer- 
meeting, the Sabbath-school, and elsewhere — that 
made the agency of the ministry less conspicuous. 

A most delightful characteristic of the work was 
seen in the flowing together of the people of God 
without regard to their denominational peculiari- 
ties. The old walls of sectarian prejudice and 
jealousy seemed broken down. Christians came 
together, with one heart, to pray for the outpouring 
of God's Spirit, and to praise Him for His mighty 
acts. The watchmen saw eye to eye. They were 
agreed as touching the things they asked. They 
united in song without the least apparent concern 
as to what collection the hymn belonged. It was 
often observed, that none could tell a man's church 
connections by the prayers he offered. The citizens 
of Zion spoke one dialect, and poured out their 
desires before God in a common strain of suppli- 
cation. 

Another observable feature was the quietude 

with which the religious meetings were conducted. 

There was none of the extravagance to which great 

excitements sometimes lead. The praying assem- 

IX* 



238 THE SECULAR PRESS. 

blies were solemnly joyful. Sobriety and good 
order blended with the liveliest zeal . The religious 
feeling, like a deep river, was profoundly calm, 
while the current flowed on with majestic strength. 

These several facts may account for another. 
The work encountered little of opposition or ridi- 
cule from the world. It was contemplated and 
spoken of with great respect by those who took no 
personal interest in it ; excepting, of course, the 
zealous advocates of religious theories antagonistic 
to it. While it was ridiculed by the ultra-ecclesi- 
astical and the ultra-liberal religious journals, it was 
treated by the more respectable secular papers as a 
grand religious movement, and a true development 
of the Christian life. They noted its progress. 
They reported its incidents ; and men of the world 
generally appeared to regard, with respectful awe, 
a work of which the majesty and might, the depth 
and the extent, were such as proved it to be the 
work of God. 

The subjects of the revival were found among 
all classes, yet it was easily discernible that God 
was working according to the established laws of 
His grace, in the conversion of those, especially, 
who belonged to pious families, or were under cor- 
rect religious instruction. The Sabbath-schools of 
the evangelical churches were particularly a field 
which the Lord blessed. Even children gave de- 
lightful evidence of having an intelligent experi- 



SUBJECTS OF THE REVIVAL. 239 

ence of the things of God. It was now seen that 
truth which had lain upon the mind, apparently 
without life, had not been put there in vain. The 
seed had received an invisible watering. It had 
felt the quickening warmth of the Sun of Right- 
eousness. In some cases, fathers and mothers, long 
in heaven, saw their prayers answered and their 
last earthly desire fulfilled, in the conversion of 
their children. And it required no very close at- 
tention to discover the fruits of an abundant seed- 
sowing by the Christian press. The stirring thoughts 
and earnest appeals of men who, being dead, yet 
speak, were now awakening a simultaneous response 
in many hearts, under the gracious operation of 
the Spirit of Life. Of the class of people who are 
little reached, or not at all, by the direct influences 
of the sanctuary and the religious press, compara- 
tively few were reached by the revival. We speak 
now of this place particularly, though we believe 
the statement would hold generally true. The 
union prayer-meeting, established in one of our 
public halls, was designed especially to draw in a 
class who would never attend a prayer-meeting 
elsewhere, and who habitually neglected the house 
of God. For a time the object was, in a measure, 
realized. The novelty of such a noonday gather- 
ing attracted a good many to it. But their curi- 
osity was soon satisfied. The Gospel had had too 
little connection with their thoughts and habits of 



240 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 



life to a'lmit of a long-continued interest in the 
exercises of a prayer-meeting, or of any deep im- 
pression from the services they witnessed. There 
were some, however, of this class, who were reached 
and rescued by the infinite mercy of God, and 
whose feet were turned to a way they had long de- 
spised. 

The happy flow of Christian love in the prayer- 
meetings was the occasion of an impression — a 
quite general one — which we believe to have been 
erroneous. It has been supposed that the penalties 
affixed to moral law have had little force in this 
awakening, and have been little appealed to in the 
way of motive to bring sinners to repentance. It 
has been said, and with apparent satisfaction, that 
ministers have ceased to operate upon the fears of 
men, having learned the more excellent way of at- 
tracting them heavenward by the power of love. 
The statement has more the appearance than the 
reality of truth.. For behind the prayer-meeting, 
which has stood foremost in the public view, have 
stood pulpits in which ministers have not shunned 
to declare the whole counsel of God. They never 
ceased to hold up the law in its proper relations to 
the cross of Christ — that law by which comes the 
knowledge of sin, and which the Eedeemer came, 
not to destroy, but to fulfil. Nor can it be that 
that divine Agent, whose first work as the Com- 
forter is to convince men of sin, of righteousness, 



NEW METHODIST CHURCH. 241 

and of judgment to come, would have sanctioned 
a policy at variance with His own, by the bestowal 
of such blessings as the church has received. 

This revival added to the different churches of 
Orange between three and four hundred communi- 
cants, — the First church receiving about fifty. Its 
results were greater in the township, but less in this 
congregation, than those of the two revivals noticed 
in the earlier part of Dr. Hillyer's ministry. 

The Methodist congregation, which was consider- 
ably strengthened by the revival, undertook at this 
time the building of a new house of worship. For 
the auspicious circumstances which gave rise to 
this undertaking, much, credit might be accorded to 
trie pastors who had successively served the con- 
gregation. The minister who had just left the 
charge (Rev. James M. Freeman) had been espe- 
cially laborious. For three months and more, 
during the revival, he had conducted a religious 
service every evening in the week but Saturday, 
the service consisting of a short discourse, followed 
by a season of prayer and conversation with in- 
quirers. The building enterprise fell into the 
hands of Rev. Lewis R. Dunn. On the loth of 
September, 1858, the corner-stone was laid for a 
neat Gothic edifice of brick, which was placed on 
the old site in Main street, the former house being 
removed to the rear, to be used for Sunday-school 
and other purposes. The building was completed 



242 ORANGE GAS-WORKS. 

the next summer, and, on the 28th of July, was 
consecrated with appropriate services. This con- 
gregation, which has been steadily prosperous since 
it was known to the writer, has now before it the 
fairest promise of continued prosperity. 

At the last parish meeting of the First church, 
an appropriation was voted for the purpose of hav- 
ing the church and lecture-room lighted with gas, 
then about to be supplied to the village. The 
business has since been executed ; the Orange gas- 
works are in operation, and the time is evidently 
near when our citizens generally will enjoy, in 
their houses, the benefit of this agreeable illumina- 
tor. The gas-works, located in the valley near the 
west end of White street, were erected by Messrs. 
Hoy & Kennedy, of Trenton. 

The mission Sunday-school, which was founded 
by Mr. Greacen, in Orange Yalley (at first called 
Freemantown), was, after his death, placed under 
the superintendence of Mr. Abraham Baldwin, by 
the unanimous desire of the teachers engaged in it. 
Mr. Baldwin had for some time been connected with 
it, and he has since devoted himself to its interests 
with peculiar earnestness. The enterprise, vigor- 
ously carried forward by him and his fellow - 
laborers, has been a remarkable success, the school 
having now a roll of a hundred and seventy-five 
pupils. It shared the influences of the late revival 
in copious measure. Meetings for prayer were 



MISSION CHAPEL. 243 

held in the school-room several times a week, and 
for some time daily. Preaching services were also 
held, and the families in that neighborhood were 
visited by the superintendent and others, the pas- 
tor participating so far as was compatible with the 
multiplicity of his engagements. About that time, 
the stated services of the Kev. Dr. Hay were en- 
gaged for the Sabbath afternoon, and a small but 
regular and promising congregation has been gath- 
ered under his labors there, which are still con- 
tinued. The Sabbath-school and congregation hav- 
ing become too large for a school-room, it was 
resolved, during the last summer, to provide for 
their use a chapel. The means required ($3,500) 
were promptly subscribed, and the work was im- 
mediately begun. A site for the edifice was select- 
ed, the ground being donated by Mr. Ira Tompkins. 
The stone was soon on its way from the quarry. 
On the 12th of September, the corner-stone was 
laid by Dr. Hay, with suitable ceremonies, in pres- 
ence of a numerous assemblage of the surrounding 
residents. The building fronts upon a new street, 
soon to be opened, on a line between the Orange 
Valley railroad-station and the mountain. This 
enterprise, which is yet of a missionary character, 
will ere long add another to the growing list of 
Orange churches. 

The Sunday-school formed in 1816, for the ben- 
efit of the colored population, — it being previous to 






24A AFRICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

their emancipation, — was, in process of time, dis- 
continued. For many years, while they were wast- 
ing in numbers, no special provision was made for 
their religious instruction. They have continued to 
be sparsely mingled with the general population of 
the town, and with the membership of its churches. 
In the summer of 1857, one of the youngest of the 
female members of this church, having just conse- 
crated herself to the service of the Meek and Lowly, 
undertook the instruction of a colored class at the 
close of the afternoon service of the Sabbath. The 
class increased till others joined her. As it con- 
tinued to grow in numbers and interest, the need 
was felt of a gentleman to superintend the exer- 
cises. This service was kindly undertaken by Mr. 
Jarvis M. Fairchild, who has continued to perform 
it, except when absent from the place for the re- 
covery of his health. The labors bestowed upon 
this hitherto neglected class are a praise-worthy 
exhibition of the spirit of Christian love. 

We have now reached the end of a history which, 
from the first settlements in Newark, has been 
brought down through a period of nearly two hun- 
dred years. As we have followed it, our thoughts 
have blended with the life of six generations. We 
have seen, indeed, but little of their inner life, and 
we have taken but a cursory view of what was 
outward and historical : but we have seen enough 



CLOSING THOUGHTS. 245 

to beget a feeling of sympathy with, these men of 
the past, who once walked upon the same soil, 
looked upon the same landscape, worshipped the 
same God, and lived for the same high purpose 
with ourselves. They have transmitted to us a 
goodly heritage. Their language is ours ; their 
faith is ours ; the fruits of their toil and suffering 
are ours. Well may we cherish their memories ! 

How much do we owe to the enterprise, how 
much to the patience and piety, of these men of 
other days ! As we walk into the old graveyard, 
and brush the grey moss from their tomb-stones, 
we may read upon each, or almost each, the name 
of a benefactor. They lived for the future. They 
cleared the soil, built the sanctuary, founded Chris- 
tian institutions, and labored together in the gos- 
pel work, not less for us than for themselves. 
They had posterity in their thoughts, and the 
prayer went often up from their hearths and their 
altars, that the institutions which they planted 
might live, and the blessings w r hich they enjoyed 
might be perpetuated through many generations. 

Nor to them only is this debt of gratitude due. 
There was*a power above them, a wisdom higher 
and a purpose mightier than theirs. He who 
liveth for ever and ever wrought in them and 
by them for the carrying out of His own plans, 
for the perpetuity and increase of that "Church 
of the living God " to which all human histories 



246 PLANS OF PROVIDENCE. 

belong. It is His divine counsels that bind the 
centuries together. His providence unites in one 
grand system all that is past with all that is pres- 
ent and to come. " He only hath immortality," 
and but for Him they and their works would have 
perished together. Yet their works have followed 
them. The Church which they founded still rests 
upon the rock on which they laid its foundations. 
The gospel which they loved, and for whose de- 
fence they were set, is still proclaimed, and be- 
lieved, and made the power of God unto salvation. 
Others have entered into their labors, while they 
have entered into their rest. And this Providence 
is still over the world, over the Church, over the 
present generation. And it will save all that is 
worth saving in their works. It carries a fan in its 
hand. It separates the chaff from the wheat, burn- 
ing the one, while it garners the other. Of its net- 
gatherings of all kinds, both good and bad, the 
good only is permanently preserved ; the bad is, 
sooner or later, cast away. There is, somehow 
or other, under Providence, a peculiar vitality in 
truth and virtue — in that which is like God. The 
memory of the just is blessed, while the wicked 
perish and are forgotten. The institutions of the 
Church abide, while the world passeth away, and 
the lust thereof. He who sits upon the throne, 
judging right, will eternally guard the great inter- 
ests of His spiritual kingdom. With Him the 



SOCIAL PKOGKESS. 247 

Church is safe. In Him all institutions of His es- 
tablishing have a strength, a power, a life, that de- 
fies decay. 

These truths have their illustration in the history 
here given. The great land-monopoly, which so 
long embarrassed the New Jersey settlements, and 
interfered with their prosperity, has come to end. 
The evils inseparable from the old colonial govern- 
ment, administered by a power too remote to feel 
a due sympathy with its subjects, have ceased to 
exist. An unfortunate people, long held in unprof- 
itable and dangerous bondage, have been emanci- 
pated, and in a measure elevated. Many walls, 
built up and guarded by ecclesiastical bigotry and 
prejudice, have crumbled down. There is a far 
better understanding of the rights of property, the 
rights of labor, and the rights of conscience, than 
there was a hundred, or even fifty years ago. The 
knife of Providence has been gradually pruning 
the institutions whose planting and growth this 
history records. Much that was evil, and produc- 
tive of evil, has been removed. What was conso- 
nant with the genius of Christianity, and with the 
best interests of the future, has been preserved. 

Such a character we claim, in no exclusive and 
uncharitable spirit, for the Church around which 
the materials of this narrative have been gathered. 
We are not given to ecclesiolatry. We have no 
reverence to spare for ancient temples of the truth 



248 WHAT WE CLAIM. 

from which the truth has fled. Our devotions are 
little drawn toward the once Christian sanctuary on 
whose dome the crescent has taken the place of the 
cross. We are well aware that error often en- 
shrines itself in sacred places, to the expulsion of 
the truth ; that it assumes venerated names, and 
appears in the holiest livery ; and that it finds suf- 
ficient aliment in the nature of man to give it, if 
God permit, a long vitality. But we believe — and 
the most of our readers, if not every one, will, we 
think, accord to us thus much — that our venerable 
Church has stood as the representative and guardian 
of a faith essentially true ; that the candlestick upon 
its altar has been held by men honored and blessed 
of God ; that it has been a fortress of freedom, a 
defence of the gospel, a blessing to generations liv- 
ing and dead. This belief is entertained with no 
feeling of jealousy or disrespect toward the many 
lights that are now shining around it. May they 
evermore burn, fed by the olive of peace, and 
blending their many-colored radiance to illuminate 
and beautify the one living temple of the Holy 
Spirit ! 

The following churches now exist within the 
parochial limits occupied by this Society alone, in 
1825: 

1. The First Presbyterian Church, standing in 



EXISTING CHURCHES. 249 

Main street, near the North Orange depot. The 
Church was organized, in or about the year 1719, 
as an Independent Church ; became Presbyterian 
in 1748 ; was incorporated in 1783, as the Second 
Presbyterian Church in Newark ; received its 
present title in 1811. The average length of five 
consecutive pastorates, now ended, has been about 
twenty-seven years. Present membership, 326. 
Families of the parish, about 175. Pupils in the 
Sabbath-school, 135 ; Orange Yalley school, 175 ; 
school for colored persons, 15 to 20. 

2. St. Mark's Episcopal Church, organized in 
1827, at the junction of Main and Yalley streets. 
Its house of worship was completed and conse- 
crated in 1829. Present rector, Rev. James A. 
Williams. Communicants, 161. Families and 
pew-holders, 88. 

3. Methodist Episcopal Church of North Orange, 
formed in 1829 ; situated in Main street, near Cen- 
ter. Its first house of worship was built in 1831 ; 
its second in 1859. Present membership, includ- 
ing probationers. 260. Minister in charge, Eev. 
Lewis R. Dunn. Sabbath-school attendance, from 
150 to 200. 

4. Second Presbyterian Church, corner of Main 
and Prospect streets. Organized in 1831. Mem- 
bers in communion, 417. Families, 185. Children 



250 EXISTING CHURCHES. 

in two Sabbath-schools, 200 ; mission- school, 50. 
Pastor, Rev. John Crowell. 

5. South Orange Presbyterian Church, organ- 
ized in 1831. Communicants, 157. Families, about 
100. Sabbath-school, 103. Pastor, Rev. Daniel 
GL Sprague. 

6. Baptist Church at East Orange, constituted 
in 1837. The present pastor is Rev. William D. 
Hedden. Communicants, 67. Sabbath-school, 50. 

7. Methodist Episcopal Church, South Orange. 
Formed in 1850. Persons in full membership, 20. 
The Society has a small house of worship, in which 
religious services are statedly held on the Sabbath, 
conducted by a local preacher. 

8. St. John's Roman Catholic Church, built in 
1851. It is now in charge of Rev. John Murray. 
Communicants, about 750. Children receiving in- 
struction, 100. The church is situated on White 
street, near Boyd. 

9. Grace Episcopal Church, in Main, between 
Park and Hillyer streets. Organized in 1854. 
House of worship consecrated in 1858. Members 
in communion, 126. Families, 86. Sabbath- 
school, 64 to 70. Parishioners of both sexes, 380. 



EXISTING CHURCHES. 251 

10. Baptist Church of North Orange, constituted 
in 1857. Communicants, 100; Sabbath-school, 
150. The congregation meets for worship in 
Waverly Hall. Mr. Morse, finding his health im- 
paired, closed his ministry with this church Octo- 
ber 2, 1859. He has been succeeded by Eev. 
George Webster. 

11. A "New Church," or Swedenborgian Soci- 
ety, has held separate worship for the last two 
years under the ministrations of Eev. Benjamin F. 
Barrett. Its meetings, until last spring, were at 
Mr. Barrett's residence, on Main street. They are 
now held at Library Hall. 

12. A Protestant Episcopal Society was formed, 
in October, 1859, at South Orange. This new So- 
ciety is yet without a minister and a house of wor- 
ship. Its religious services are held in the Meth- 
odist Church. 

13. The Orange Valley congregation is not yet 
organized as a Church, but is erecting a house of 
worship. It comprises many families connected 
with the First Church, and has a flourishing 
Sabbath-school. Preaching by Eev. Philip C. 
Hay, D. D. 

14. A small congregation of German Protes- 
tants, mostly Lutheran, was gathered four or five 



252 UNION SCHOOLS. 

years ago, meeting at first in the lecture-room of 
the First Church, and afterward in Washington 
Hall. It has now a regular service on the Sab- 
bath at Bodwell's Hall, under the ministry of Eev. 
Gottfried Schmidt. 

In the Franklin school-house (Doddtown) a 
Union Sabbath-school is sustained, and also a 
weekly preaching service, at which the clergy of 
the different denominations officiate in turn. A 
similar service has for a year or two been held 
at the school-house on Valley street, near Williams- 
ville. 

The Mission Sunday-school, established during 
the past year in Bodwell's Hall, where a weekly 
prayer-meeting is also held, is doing a useful work. 
It originated with members of the Second Church. 



CHAPTER IX. 
A VIEW OF ORANGE. 

IIS" 1834, Orange was described as a straggling vil- 
lage and post-town, extending about three miles 
along the turnpike from Newark toward Dover; con- 
taining two Presbyterian churches, one Episcopal, 
and one Methodist ; two taverns, ten stores, two saw- 
mills and a bark-mill, and from 200 to 230 dwell- 
ings, many of them very neat and commodious. A 
large trade was carried on in the manufacture of 
leather, shoes and hats * The population of the 
township in 1830 was 3,887. In 1850 it was 4,385. 
At this time it is supposed to be from eight to ten 
thousand. For the last ten years the immigration 
east of the mountain has been rapid, and every 
year increasing. Men of business in the large cities 
near, and persons seeking health, have found here 
the conditions of climate, scenery and situation de- 
sirable for a rural home. And since the tide 
began to set in this direction, it has had no check. 

~ Gordon's Hist. New Jersey. 

12 



254 CLIMATE AND POSITION. 

Orange has a geographical position which imparts 
to its climate some favorable peculiarities. While 
it is approached by the sea on the south-east, it is 
very seldom that winds come from that quarter, so 
that invalids for whom a sea atmosphere is too 
severe, find here a shelter from its influence within 
a few miles from the coast. The south winds are 
always bland, and those from the north-east, coming 
from the New England coast, have left the ocean 
at too great a distance to be sensibly affected by it. 
Hence persons suffering from pulmonary com- 
plaints often experience much benefit from a resi- 
dence here.* 

The distance from Newark is from three to five 
miles ; from New York about twelve. With both 
places there is constant communication by the 
Morris and Essex railroad, and with the former, by 
lines of stages that are running nearly every hour 
of the day. From South to East Orange, within a 
distance of five miles, there are six railway stations, 
showing at once a large amount of travel, and the 
breadth of territory which the influx of population 
is filling up. The future Orange is projected upon 
a scale of extraordinary compass. And its outlines 
have been drawn, not on paper by the hand of 
speculation, but on the soil by actual settlement, 

s See an article by Dr. Stephen Wickes, on the Medical Topog* 
raphy of Orange, in " Transactions of the N. J. State Medical So? 
ciety for 1859." 



MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN. 255 

Let a stranger take his position on Eagle Kock, or 
any point along the ridge of the mountain, and turn 
his eye in the direction of Newark. He will see an 
extended landscape beautified already by charming 
residences, while the sight of newly-opened streets, 
and foundations, frames and unfinished houses, will 
suggest to him that he sees yet but the fair outline 
of a picture which time is rapidly executing. If he 
now change his position to a point within the land- 
scape over which he has looked, and turn the eye 
backward to the mountain, he will see the straight 
line of an elevated horizon drawn on the western 
sky — a horizon so even and uniform as scarcely to 
be broken by a projecting tree-top or rocky spur — 
and from that a green slope descending to the east, 
upon which the homes of wealth and taste look 
smilingly out from their sylvan surroundings. 
The view in either direction is exceedingly pictur- 
esque. It is a question not yet settled between the 
inhabitants of the hill-side and their less elevated 
neighbors, which of the two is the more attractive 
and pleasing to the eye, — the mountain, or the plain. 
The former class have the advantage of a more ex- 
tended view, embracing West Bloomfield, Orange, 
Newark and its bay, Staten Island, . and the roofs 
and steeples of New York. 

The business of the place is mechanical, mercan- 
tile and manufacturing. The stores which line 
Main street carry on a large retail trade, while the 



256 LLKWELLYN PARK. 

hat and shoe shops, some of them employing several 
hundred hands, furnish a large supply for northern 
and southern markets.* The farms are disappear- 
ing, or becoming of little value for agricultural pur- 
poses. Year by year the old boundaries vanish, 
the field is converted into a garden, and the meadow 
to a lawn. 

In no part of Orange is this transformation more 
conspicuous than in the grounds surrounding 
Llewellyn Park. The project of these grounds 
originated with our townsman, Llewellyn S. Has- 
kell, whose trans-atlantic prenomen is fitly associat- 
ed with the foreign blooms and shrubbery that he 
has caused to mingle with the native growth of the 
hill- side. The park embraces fifty acres on the 
eastern slope of the mountain, around which are 
three hundred acres or more which that gentleman 
has purchased, to be occupied as rural residences 
under the rules of an association. The front en- 
trance to the grounds is on Valley street, about a 
mile from the North Orange depot. The inclosure 
11 contains hills, dales and glens ; springs, streams 
and ponds ; magnificent forest trees, innumerable 
ornamental trees, bushes, vines and flowers ; kiosks, 

s "Although this village contains so small a population, there is 
upwards of $200,000 of capital employed in manufactures. There 
are ten schools and five hundred scholars, more or less receiving a 
free education, or at the expense of the State." — Specimen number 
of the Orange Journal. January 7, 1854. 



PUECHASEES AND PEICES. 257 

stone bridges and rustic seats ;"* winding foot-paths, 
avenues and carriage roads ; all together forming a 
landscape in which, art and nature seem as rivals, 
and yet in harmonious alliance. The limits of our 
chapter forbid a detailed description. It belongs to 
the present historian of Orange to notice the begin- 
nings of this successful and much admired enter- 
prise. To the future the Park will be its own lim- 
ner. ' The grounds have already found purchasers, 
and six or eight beautiful dwellings, erected within 
the year past, furnish types of the model homes 
which are soon to be their happiest ornament. We 
have fancied, in travelling over these delightful 
grounds, which overlook the homes of Newark and 
New York, that it was from some such spot, with 
" the resounding shore " perhaps a little nearer, the 
author of The Minstrel made his appeal to the lover 
of city life : 

" how canst thou renounce the boundless store 
Of charms which Xature to her votary yields ; 

* See a full description of the Park in the Orange Journal of 
June 6, 1851, by the editor. The present value of the lands, which 
Sir. Haskell obtained at prices ranging from $150 to $500 per acre, 
and which are purchased of him in building lots at the rate of $1000 
to $1200 per acre, would have startled the old Indian proprietors, 
who, as we have seen, signed their quit-claim to the whole moun- 
tain side for "two guns, three coats, and thirteen cans of rum." 
Desirable sites in the village are rated as high as $3000 per acre. 
Along Tremont Avenue, half-way to South Orange, $800 have been 
paid. To the men of twenty years ago these prices would have 
seemed fabulous, but the demand creates them. 



258 EAGLE ROCK. 

The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, 
The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ; 

All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 
And all that echoes to the song of even ; 

All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, 

And all the dread magnificence of heaven — 

how canst thou renounce and hope to be forgiven ?" 

On the southern border of this tract, and now- 
connected with it, are the grounds upon which 
a number of fine residences have been built by 
Daniel C. Otis. The entrance to them is from the 
turnpike road that forms their boundary on the 
south. 

Just north of the Park is Eagle Bock, a point of 
the mountain which is much visited, and from which, 
in a clear afternoon, there is a very rich and exten- 
sive view, embracing New York, Staten Island and 
the waters that divide it from Newark, the roofs and 
steeples of the latter city in a south-easterly direc- 
tion, West Bloomfield to the north-west, and Orange 
spreading widely over the plain to the south-east. 
And here we may introduce a few lines from an 
anonymous poet, who is presumed to have drawn 
his inspiration from the spot, Orange being the sub- 
ject of his description. 

" From hills that hide the western sky, 
And throw their shadows o'er the lea, 
I downward turn the enamored eye, 
And see thee stretching toward the sea. 



THE MINEKAL SPEING. 259 

On slope and knoll and spreading vale, 
On lawns that kiss the summer gale, 
In rustic ease or princely guise 
I see thy homes of beauty rise. 
I see the throng at close of day 

Escaping from the city's din, 
By stage or train, as best they may, 

And disappear those homes within : 
By stage or train, they little care, 
Who once have snuffed our mountain air."* 

Within a hundred rods of Saint Mark's church, 
at the base of the mountain, the visitor is per- 
mitted a free ingress to the grounds which enclose 
the once celebrated Mineral Spring of Orange. He 
here finds himself in the presence of two con- 
spicuous mansions, owned and occupied by Messrs. 
Heckscher and Pillot. He will hardly resist the 
temptation to enter the premises, to. which the pub- 
lic are generously admitted, nor will the beauties 
impressed upon his memory be soon obliterated. 
The chalybeate fountain shows no particular traces 
of its ancient ambition to attract the stranger. A 
Httle arbor, however, still marks the spot where the 
multitudes once sat, as around Bethesda, in the 
hope of healing. Around are groves and running 
waters, cascades and artificial ponds, fences of 
rustic work, elaborately plain, the foot-bridge that 
lightly spans the chasm, and the solid staircase 
hewn from the rock. Within the more private 

* Carrier's Address of the Orauge Journal 1859, 



260 THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE. 

grounds, where lawn and garden spread out to the 
eye a rich diversity of colors, forms and fruits, we 
shall not at present enter. The place has for the 
visitor a double interest, from the beauties it now 
exhibits and from its historic associations. 

Pursuing the slope of the mountain southward, 
the eye passes over a tract known as Barretts Park, 
owned by our townsman, Rev. B. F. Barrett, in 
which are seen the beginnings of another enter- 
prise of settlement. A road is now opened through 
it, passing up the ravine and terminating on a ter- 
race of the hill which furnishes some attractive 
situations for the future settler. Still southward, 
Let ween this and the Mountain House, are the 
elegant country seats of Dr. Lowell Mason and 
sons, the latter (Daniel and Lowell) constituting 
the firm of Mason Brothers, book publishers of 
New York. Passing others, the eye rests upon the 
Mountain House, built for a Water-Cure, but now 
used for a summer hotel. This fine establishment, 
with its forest of shade and its many alluring re- 
treats, is near the southern line of the township, in 
the vicinity of South Orange. Returning along 
the valley, we pass through the thickening settle- 
ment that is filling up the interval between North 
and South Orange, and in which the walls of a 
stone sanctuary have just been raised. This in- 
cipient village has till recently borne the names 
(from families residing in it) of Freemantoicn and 






STREETS AND STREAMS. 261 

StetsonvilU. The name more lately adopted, and 
marked in the list of railway stations, is Orange 
Valley. The recent opening of Tremont avenue 
connects it eastwardly with Centre street, and by 
a more direct transit with Newark. Along this 
avenue, as it runs up the slope east of the val- 
ley, a number of mansions already appear. 

In the eastern section of the village, on Harrison, 
Main, Prospect, and other streets, the progress of 
settlement, and of wealth and taste in the erection 
of buildings, is equally visible. The same is true 
of Day, High, Boyd, Scotland, and Centre streets. 
There are indeed few localities in or about the 
village to which the statement will not apply. In 
Dublin street and its neighborhood, where there is a 
centralized population of Irish, tenements are built 
to suit the local demand. 

Half a mile north-east of the village, in the 
direction of Bloomfield, is Springdale Lake. This 
artificial reservoir, owned by Matthias Soverel, is 
fed by a liberal spring near its southern margin, 
and furnishes a copious supply of ice. Its waters 
are received by the Second river, which has its 
proper beginning in a pond just above, into which 
are emptied the Neshuine from the north, Wigwam 
brook from the west, and Parow's brook from the 
south. The first of these streams crosses the Dodd- 
town road a little east of the cemetery ; the second 
comes down by Williamsville, receiving on its 
12* 



262 ROSEDALE CEMETERY. 

way a southern tributary whose sources lie in and 
around Llewellyn Park ; the third is the stream 
already familiar to the reader, which crosses Main 
street by the Willow Hall Market. The stream 
formed by the three runs north-eastwardly into 
Bloomfleld, where it spreads out into a shallow 
basin forming Watsessing lake. 

Kosedale Cemetery lies to the north of Orange, 
a little less than a mile distant from Main street. 
It is approached from the south and south-east by 
Day and Washington streets. We take the follow- 
ing account of it from an article published in the 
specimen number of the Orange Journal, January 
7, 1854. 

" The enterprise originated with a few gentlemen 
connected with the Second Presbyterian Church, 
all of whom are yet among its acting directors. 
Not long after the organization of this church, it 
was deemed expedient to provide some suitable 
place for a burying-ground, for the old yard was 
deemed too strait for the accommodation of our grow- 
ing population, and some difficulties were presented 
from the claims of the First Church, within whose 
bounds the old burying-ground lay. The prevailing 
ideas and fashions of the day, however, satisfied 
the mass of the congregation ; and they would at 
this time have had some little yard, — two or three 
acres of flat ground near the church, where none 
would resort except from hard necessity or the 



ROSEDALE CEMETERY. 268 

urgencies of recent bereavement, — but for the efforts 
of three or four individuals. These gentlemen, with 
prudent forethought and commendable public spirit, 
determined to anticipate the wants of a rapidly 
growing community and the demands of a pro- 
gressive age, and, after having failed to secure the 
approval of their plan by the congregation, pro- 
ceeded to carry it forward on their own responsi- 
bility. 

" They purchased at once on the most favorable 
terms a tract of ten acres, and obtained an act of 
the New Jersey Legislature incorporating them with 
ample powers and adequate securities against the 
encroachments of business enterprise. This act of 
incorporation was passed Nov. 13, 1840, and was 
among the first in our State for chartering ceme- 
teries. In the year 1843 another purchase was 
made, more than doubling the size of the Ceme- 
tery, and recently another, giving completeness to 
the site, as it embraces the whole of the continuous 
ground adapted to burying purposes, and offers a 
desirable opportunity for improving the avenues. 
The company now own about twenty acres, en- 
closed and laid out with judgment and taste, as the 
nature of the ground and convenience have sug- 



" Perhaps one-third of the whole tract has been 
already sold, or is in a state of readiness to be sold. 
The present price of lots is twenty dollars for an 



264 THE ORANGE JOURNAL. 

area of 320 square feet. No discrimination is made 
between citizens and strangers, all becoming mem- 
bers of the company by ownership of a lot, and all 
being entitled to the same privileges. The com- 
pany have never made, nor do they expect to make 
dividends, all their means being intended to be 
used in improving and ornamenting the Cemetery." 

Such, in outline, are the topographical features 
of Orange. We may add that it occupies a moder- 
ate elevation with respect to the towns north and 
south of it, sending its waters to the north-east 
through Bloomneld toward the Passaic, and to the 
south through Clinton to the Kahway. 

Among the institutions of Orange is a printing- 
press, which enjoys a liberal and increasing patron- 
age in local advertising and job-work, and from 
which is issued weekly the Orange Journal, edited 
and published by Edward Gardner. A specimen 
number of this paper made its modest appearance 
before the public in January, 1854. The paper 
however was not regularly issued till the first of 
the following July, when the present editor assumed 
the charge of it. Its first volume dates from that 
time. With the beginning of 1856, it manifested 
progress by appearing in an enlarged and improved 
form, its six columns being expanded into seven, 
and also lengthened. Its sphere is of necessity 
limited by the proximity of the Newark and New 
York press, which pour their daily issues out upon 



THE OLD ACADEMY, 265 

up. Yet its successive numbers find their way in 
the track of the ex-resident to nearly all the States 
of the Union, not excepting the Pacific coast. The 
ordinary circulation is from five to six hundred 
copies. Special occasions bring out larger editions. 
In noticing the schools of the village, we take 
the Old Academy as a starting-point. This insti- 
tution, born fifteen years before the century, and 
long distinguished by classical honors, had virtually 
descended from its preeminence even before the 
school act of 1838. From about that time (as we 
have noticed) it became the school of the Academy 
district. Having been continued many years as a 
common school, the building (then sixty years old) 
being inconvenient, and the ground too small to 
afford a yard for the recreation of the pupils, it was 
resolved by the district to sell the property and 
transfer the school to a better location. As the title 
was found defective, authority for the sale had to 
be sought of the Legislature, which was granted by 
a special act, in April, 1845. A sale was then 
made to John M. Lindsley, and a site purchased in 
Day street, on which another building was erected. 
The latter is yet occupied as a public school. 
The old house, still tenacious of existence, con- 
tinued to prolong its usefulness in the humble 
capacity of a shoe store. It is now used as a flour 
and feed store, ministering to bodily wants as it 
long ministered to those of the intellect. May its 



266 FEMALE SEMINARY. 

ancient walls long stand, and receive the grateful 
respect of man and beast ! Man is, however, less 
merciful than time ; and even this enduring monu- 
ment of the learning of a past age must yield in 
its turn to the inevitable changes which commerce 
is working in places historically sacred. 

Among the private schools of a recent date, we 
may mention that established in the fall of 1847 
by Eev. F. A. Adams, in the immediate vicinity 
of the Second Church. This was continued by 
Mr. Adams about five years, when a company of 
stockholders founded the Orange Female Semi- 
nary, of which he became the Principal. He re- 
signed the charge in 1856, and went to Newark, 
but returned in 1858 to Orange, where he is now 
conducting a private academy for boys, in Bod- 
well's Hall. His successors in the Seminary were 
the Misses Stebbins, who have been succeeded by 
Mrs. C. C. G-. Abbott. 

An academy for both sexes was established, and 
continued several years, in High street, by Eev. 
Joshua B. Berry, D. D. It was discontinued 
about two years since, and the building is now 
occupied as a private residence. 

The classical school of Eev. S. S. Stocking, in the 
the neighborhood of St. Mark's Church, has been 
some years in operation, and continues to be well 
supported. This is a boarding and day school for 
boys. A similar institution in the vicinity of the 



schools, 267 

Second Church, on Main street, is conducted by 
Eev. Philip C. Hay, D. D. There are two or three 
private female schools, of which that of the Misses 
Robinson, in Main street, near the First Church, 
has priority of age. Parochial schools are con- 
nected with St. Mark's Church (Episcopal) and St. 
John's Church (Roman Catholic). The interests 
of popular education are, however, associated 
mostly with the public schools of the village and 
township. Into these the children of the people 
flow ; and while the want of a large, well-endowed 
and permanent institution of high order is felt by 
many of our citizens, it must afford to every 
one a sincere satisfaction that the schools of the 
State have been made what they are, and that the 
people patronize them. Immense improvements 
have been made in the last twenty years in the 
arrangement and comfort of school-houses, in the 
qualifications of teachers, and in the methods of 
instruction. Considering how many of the best 
intellects of the land are now devoted to the sub- 
ject, w r e may confidently look for still farther pro- 
gress. Such are the benefits descending upon us, 
and the generations to come after us, from those 
men of wise forecast and self-devoting toil, who 
nourished the germs of our now-fruitful institu- 
tions. 

But the school-room and the press are not, in 
free communities, the only educators of the people, 



268 ORANGE LYCEUM. 

Where a degree of intellectual activity is by these 
awakened, and has freedom to operate, the desire 
of improvement will commonly show itself in some 
form of literary association. The first movement 
of the kind in Orange was the establishment of the 
old Orange Library, of which the late Giles Man- 
deville had the care for many years. It comprised 
a small collection of books which belonged to the 
stockholders, and from which the people of the 
town were permitted to draw for a trifling sum. 
This library was useful in its day. JSTot a few of 
the men of a generation now gone had their read- 
ing taste improved, and their stock of ideas en- 
larged by it. 

In 1832 was formed the Orange Lyceum, " for 
mutual improvement in knowledge and literature." 
It met weekly, its exercises consisting of "lectures, 
debates, recitations in some useful branch of science, 
letter-writing and composition, public reading and 
declamation." A collection of books was soon 
commenced, which were kept at Albert Pierson's 
school-room, where the Lyceum at first held its 
meetings. Mr. Pierson was its first President. He 
was then conducting a classical school. The meet- 
ings were subsequently held in the lecture-room of 
the First Church, and finally at Willow Hall. The 
Lyceum obtained a charter in 1842. A number 
of the intelligent business men of Orange owe 
much to the intellectual stimulus it furnished. 



LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 269 

The public, however, ceasing to take interest in 
it, a new association was started in 1858. This, 
the present Library Association, has thus far been 
highly successful. Of the two rooms which it 
occupies in Bailey & Everitt's new building, one is 
a large and pleasantly furnished reading-room, and 
the other contains a library of about 1,500 volumes. 
These rooms, under the care of Charles Warbur- . 
ton Brown, the librarian, are open every evening, 
except the Sabbath, and on Saturday afternoons. 
Through this Association, two annual courses of 
popular lectures have been given, which have re- 
ceived a liberal patronage. The large receipts 
from these lectures have put the Association in a 
condition to increase further its library, and to 
strengthen its foundations as one of the permanent 
and most useful institutions of Orange. 

Such are the more noticeable features of our 
thriving village. F< t the truth of history, and in 
the hope of calling attention to them, we must 
speak of certain others, equally noticeable, and in- 
indicative of wants which its rapid growth is 
creating. 

The first need is a municipal organization of the 
village, or, in lieu of this, some change in the civil 
administration of the township. In the judgment 
of many, the exigencies of the village call for the 
corporate powers of a borough. It can hardly be 
expected that local interests, which are everv year 



270 IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED. 

assuming a greater magnitude, should be suitably 
regarded by the township authorities and a large 
proportion of their constituents. Many improve- 
ments are needed, which are not to be looked for 
at the hands of a town-meeting. The want of bet- 
ter side- walks has furnished a subject for much 
reasonable complaint on the part of both residents 
and strangers ; and the very imperiousness of this 
want has, during the last year, induced man} r of 
our merchants and others to flag the walks that 
line their premises. In considerable portions of 
Main street, and in some of those that intersect it, 
the footman now finds the comfort of a plank, or 
of something broader and better, beneath his feet, 
and the continuity and connection of these com- 
forts are increasing. During the last summer, for 
the first time, two water-carts were seen passing 
up and down our principal thoroughfares, set in 
motion by private contributions, clarifying the 
dusty air, and relieving the housemaids of no little 
toil, by their showery discharges. Yet, a more 
liberal and permanent provision for sprinkling the 
streets is needed. Street-lamps are a further de- 
sideratum. This will doubtless be supplied ere 
long, now that the means are furnished by the 
Orange gas-works. 

A fire-company was formed nearly two years 
ago, and an engine obtained, but the alarming in- 
crease of incendiarism, and the want of sufficient 



i 



WANT OF POLICE. 271 

and convenient supplies of water, produced a reac- 
tion against the movement. The engine was not 
paid for, and has recently been removed from the 
place. That a fire department, however, will be 
organized at no distant day, admits of little doubt. 
The need of this would be less if the village 
were protected by an efficient police. In streets 
unilluminated, and untraversed by any kind of 
nightguard, the incendiary and the burglar find 
circumstances not a little favorable to their crimi- 
nal designs. Successful burglaries have of late 
been alarmingly frequent, and in no case within 
the writer's knowledge has either the criminal or 
his plunder been discovered. Impunity has given 
encouragement to these bold attempts, in which 
stores, private dwellings, and even sleeping-rooms, 
have been robbed of their contents while the own- 
ers slept. There is also much open dissipation and 
street-drunkenness, on which a check would be 
laid by the vigilance of a well- organized police. 
About a year ago, the exposure of property to 
fires (which seemed to be kindled more in sport 
than malice, as they occurred chiefly in barns, 
stables, shops, and' other out-buildings,) led many 
citizens to station a private watch around buildings 
supposed to be especially in danger. These evils 
will doubtless continue, without much abatement, 
till they are met by the correctives of local muni- 
cipal law. 



272 FKELIMINARY ACTION. 

How soon such, a remedy will be applied, we are 
unable to rjredict. It appears, from the following 
notice in the Orange Journal, of Nov. 19, 1859, 
(issued since the above was written,) that the sub- 
ject is already engaging the thoughts of some of 
our leading men : 

" A meeting of the citizens of Orange was held 
at Willow Hall, on Thursday evening, Nov. 17th, 
pursuant to a call of the Township Committee, to 
consider the propriety of applying to the Legisla- 
ture for some change in the laws regulating the 
Township Government. The meeting was called 
to order by Mr. Nelson Lindsley. Dr. Babbit was 
appointed Chairman, and E. D. Pierson, Secretary. 
The Secretary read the call of the meeting, when 
Dr. Pierson moved, in order to test the feelings of 
the citizens, ' That it is expedient to take measures 
for the better government of the town,' which mo- 
tion was carried unanimously. It was then moved 
and carried that a committee of five persons be 
appointed, who, with the Township Committee, 
shall determine upon some plan to carry out the 
wishes of this meeting, as expressed by the first 
resolution, and report the same to a subsequent 
meeting. 

" The several matters mentioned in the call, viz. : 
grading of streets, a police and fire department, 
license for the sale of liquors, division of election- 



COMMITTEES. 273 

districts, &c, were then taken up separately, and 
after considerable discussion, which was partici- 
pated in by Messrs. Dr. Pierson, 1ST. Lindsley, 
Albert Pierson, J. L. Blake, E. Johnson, E. Gard- 
ner, F. P. Sanford, John Bonnell, Simeon Harri- 
son, the Chairman, and D. N". Eopes, were each 
referred to the committee. 

" The Chairman then announced the following 
gentlemen as the committee to act with the Town- 
ship Committee to draft a plan as aforesaid : Messrs. 
William Pierson, Simeon Harrison, Napoleon Stet- 
son, Isaac J. Everitt, and Jesse Williams. It was 
moved and carried that the Chairman be added to 
the committee. 

" Considerable discussion was then had on the 
subjects of taxation and common schools, after 
which the meeting adjourned, to meet at the call 
of the committee." 



APPENDIX 



Ctat of Jlastore. 



SETTLED. DISMISSED. DIED. AGE. 

Daniel Taylor, Jan. 8, 1747-8 56 

Caleb Smith, Nov. 30, 1748. Oct. 22, 1762 38 

Jed. Chapman, July 22, 1766. Aug. 13, 1800. May 22, 1813 72 

A. Hillyer, D.D., Dec. 16, 1801. Feb. 12, 1833. Aug. 28, 1840 77 
G-eo. Pierson, June 22, 1829. Apr. 27, 1831. 

W. C. White, Feb. 13, 1833. Apr. 18, 1855. Feb. 7, 1856. 53 
James Hoyt, Feb. 14, 1856. 



£tst of Ruling <£lltxs. 

The Church has no records from which the names 
of its elders can be known prior to 1801. The 
first three in the following list were obtained from 
the records of the Synod ; the next eleven from 
those of the Presbytery ; some of them being also 
found in the oldest minutes of the Session. There 
must have been other elders before or contemporary 
with Joseph Peck, but their names cannot be re- 
covered. It is said by Ira Harrison that his ances- 
tor, Lewis Crane, who died in 1777, aged 59, held 



APPENDIX. 



275 



the office. The evidence is wholly traditional. 
Henry Osborn was one of the elders who signed 
the call to Mr. Hillyer in 1801. From that time 
the list is complete. David Munn was chosen to 
the office in 1809, but declined to serve. 





WAS IN 
OFFICE. 


LEFT THE 
PAEISH. 


DIED. 


AGE. 


Joseph Peck, 


1757 




July 12, 1772 


70 


Joseph Riggs, 


1766 


1783 


1799 


79 


Bethuel Pierson, 


1768 




May 16, 1791 


70 


Amos Baldwin, 


1775 




Feb. 23, 1805 


85 


!N"oah Crane, 


1776 




June 8, 1800 


81 


John Peck, 


1784 




Dec, 28, 1811 


79 


Joseph Pierson, 


1791 




Oct. 9, 1835 


76 


Isaac Dodd, 


1793 


1798 Aug. 19, 1804 


76 


John Perry, 


1793 




Oct. 1, 1821 


75 


Joseph Crane, 


1794 


1798 


" 11, 1832 


81 


Aaron Munn, 


1795 


1805 


Jan. 28, 1829 


63 


Zen as Freeman, 


1798 




Sept. 3, 1800 


40 


Linus Dodd, 


1798 




Aug. 3, 1825 


m 


Amos Harrison, 


1799 




Sept. 2, 1832 


77 


Henry Osborn, 


1801 


1811 


Nov. 1835 


72 


Moses Condit, 


1805 




June 8, 1838 


78 


John Lindsley, 


1805 




Dec. 19, 1819 


67 


Nathaniel Bruen, 


1809 


1814 


June 28, 1829 


60 


Daniel P. Stryker 


1814 




Feb. 9, 1816 


33 


Adonijah Osmun, 


1814 


1831 






Joseph Pierson, 


1814 




Oct. 5, 1819 


45 


Daniel Condit, 


1814 




May 11, 1820 


38 


Zadok Brown, 


1817 


(?)1818 


1853 




John Nicol, 


1820 


1831 







276 


APPENDIX. 










Peter Campbell, 


1820 


1831 


Dec. 


23, 


1852 


66 


Samuel Freeman, 


1820 


1831 


u 


31, 


1835 


56 


Aaron R. Harrison, 


1822 


1833 


July, 




1857 


73 


Aaron Peck, 


1825 


1831 










Amos Vincent, 


1826 *1840 


June 


24, 


1853 


74 


Abraham Harrison, 


1826 




Dec. 


1, 


1851 


73 


Josiah Frost, 


1831 




Sept 


16, 


1859 


84 


Daniel D. Condit, 


1831 




Oct. 


17, 


1839 


56 


Ira Canfield, 


1831 


1858 










Samuel L. Pierson, 


1831 


1840 










Abiathar Harrison, 


1833 


1855 










Jonathan S. Williams 


, 1834 












Smith Williams, 


1839 












Cyrus Gildersleeve, 


18-46 












Charles R. Day, 


1851 












James Greacen, 


1856 




Nov. 


5, 


1857 


42 


John Boynton, 


1856 












Steph. Wickes, M. D. 


,1856 












Ira Harrison, 


1856 













£ist of Dracons. 

i We insert the name of Samuel Pierson (written 
Pair son on his headstone) for reasons which Have 
been given. There can be little doubt that he was 
one of the first officers of the church. The second 
pastor, Rev. Caleb Smith, had an account with 
11 Deacon Thomson," as his account book shows, 
p. 110. And there is extant a copy of the New 






Ceased to act. 



APPENDIX. 277 

York Pocket Almanac for the year 1757, which 
has been preserved in the parish, in which we rind, 
among a number of business entries, that the owner 
of it in 1769 " paid Deacon Smith too dollars." 
Samuel Harrison's account with the parsonage in 
1748 mentions Deacon Samuel Freeman. The dea- 
cons of later date (and perhaps some of these) have 
all of them been elders also, except the three now 
in office. 



Samuel Pierson, 


WA8 IN 
OFFICE, 


Mar. 


DIED. 

19, 1730 


AGE. 

66 


Samuel Freeman, 


1748 


Oct. 


21, 1782 


66 


Thomson, 


1762 








— ■ Smith, 


1769 








Joseph Peck, 
Bethut-1 Pierson, 
Amos Baldwin, 


1783 


July 
May 
Feb. 


12, 1772 
16, 1791 
23, 1805 


70 
70 

85 


Noah Crane,(?) 




June 


8, 1800 


81 


Isaac Docld, 




Aug. 


19, 1804 


76 


John Peck, 




Dec. 


28, 1811 


79 


Joseph Pierson, 
John Perry, 


1798 


Oct. 
Oct. 


9, 1835 
1, 1821 


76 

75 


Amos Harrison, 




Sept. 


2, 1832 


77 


Samuel Freeman, 


J 820 


Dec. 


31, 1835 


56 


Abraham Harrison, 


1803 


.i 


1, 1851 


73 


Amos Vincent, 


1803 


June 


24, 1853 


74 


Josiah Frost, 


1835 


Sept. 


10, 1859 


84 


Moses B. Canfield, 


1851 








Erastus A. Grave-, 


1856 








Cyrus S. Minor, 
13 


1856 









278 APPENDIX. 



Statistics. 

The figures given here have been gathered from 
the following sources: From 1803 to 1805, from 
the Sessional Kecords ; from 1806 to 1822, from 
the Eecords of the Synod of New York; for 1823 
and 1824, from those of the Synod of New Jersey ; 
from 1825 to the present time, from the statistics of 
the General Assembly. When these were not pub- 
lished, or were found incomplete, the omissions have 
been supplied, so far as they could be, from other 
sources. In the columns of benevolence, especially 
in the first two tables, the figures are quite defect- 
ive. The tables are conformed to the changes 
which have been made from time to time in the 
form of statistical reports. These reports were 
generally made in April, and cover the year pre- 
ceding. 



APPENDIX, 



279 



No. 1. 



In 

O 




t-H 

49 

a 




^3 

42 n 

S3 

3A 




a 

.2 

■a 


a 
.2 

u 

S3 


6? 

& 

1 

P4 


1803 


27 
















1804 


9 
















1805 


4 
















1806 


9 


223 6 


38 


$10 00 




$23 00 


$7 50 


180? 


8 


228 2 


26 


1100 




16 18 


5 56 


1808 
1809 


130 
23 


355 
375 


49 

8 


57 
62 


8 00 
7 73 


$8 00 
7 73 






16 18 


13 06 


1810 


4 


377 




30 


10 62 


10 62 


22 45 




1811 


3 


377 


1 


34 


5 44 


5 44 


17 47 




1812 


10 


383 


2 


21 


7 93 


7 93 


18 10 




1813 


6 


377 




19 


7 25 


7 25 


17 00 




1814 


15 


379 


4 


33 


10 19 

9 25 


10 20 


17 00 


t>» 


1815 


45 


419 


12 


35 


10 00 




pS ® 


1816 


9 


374 


3 


40 


7 27 


7 25 


14 10 


So 
WaQ 


1817 


119 


518 


35 


24 


12 00 


12 00 


18 25 


1818 


9 


520 


4 


64 


7 83 


13 67 


20 00 


2100 


1819 


4 








8 13 


813 




40 00 


1820 


8 


511 


3 


32 


6 00 


2 37 




36 00 


1821 


17 


524 


3 


31 


5 00 


5 00 


26 50 


6 00 


1822 


6 


522 


2 


20 


5 00 


5 00 




19 00 


1823 


5 








4 78 


4 78 


14 50 


31 25 


1824 


7 


518 


1 


23 


6 0o 


6 03 


9 68 43 00 


1825 




518 


4 


63 


1172 


1172 


24 43 14 00 


1826 


90 


596 


26 


63 


5 68 


5 68 


11 10 


6 00 


1827 


18 


604 


2 


43 


10 00 


4 62 


17 00 


3 00 


1828 


5 


588 


1 


31 


8 00 


5 75 


10 00 


3140 




390 




168 


789 


184 85 


159 17 


312 94 


250 65 



280 



APPENDIX. 



No. 2. 





o 


c-2 








t^ 


1 

a 




3 2 

'O'S 


o § 

TStCJ 


E 






1 


oo O 

a 5 

O eS 


5 






a 


'B oT 


«2 £< 


M 


■a § 


H 


•<H 


•<o 


* 


<JM 


£ * 


< 


S 


H 


1829 


7 


6 


598 


1 


38 




e 


$9 59 


1830 


8 


3 


597 


1 


56 


§5 00 


35 54 




1831 


12 


2 


596 




46 


7 00 


- i 7 37 


1832 


63 




439 




46 


5 06 


e 


5 54 


1833 


1 










4 25 


8 




1831 


4 


6 


294 


1 


26 


4 64 


262 48 


22 2G 


1835 


2 


3 


281 




14 


4 00 


134 00 


16 00 


1836 






255 








16 15 




1837 


1 


6 


250 


1 


20 


4 42 


350 00 50 00 


1838 


8 


4 


254 


4 


22 




114 00; 73 90 


1839 


22 


10 


280 


6 


25 


14 34 


345 00 340 00 


1840 


1 


3 


274 




12 


5 75 


300 001 


1841 


30 


4 


280 




8 




400 00 


1842 


6 


4 


275 


1 


12 




375 00 




1843 


36 


14 


270 


14 


50 




1200 00 


45 00 




201 


65 | 




29 


375 


54 41 







* Contributions in aid of foreign missions, from 1S29 to 1S33, were made to 
the Essex County Society, auxiliary to the American Board. The sums are 
not known ; the accounts of the society, which has ceased to exist, not being 
found. 



APPENDIX, 



281 



CO 

d 



1 
•norreonqrij 


oooi— iOti- icqoj)'- ice 

i ■!■ i ■!••!■ 1 fH i—i -M-CM NCM ^ 


CM 
O 

<m" 


*aoi»UDnpg[ 


O i-O CO 3 (N M C ffit- (2N^O^a 


GO 

o 

CM 

cm" 


'SBOISSip{ 


OONXXHCDONHM'OCSOriH 

OOCMl-OOC^Ot-OOCO^iOOO 

ri^lNDCO^CONHCOOjriOO^O 


-C- 
CO 


•euoissip;; 
opsaraod 


O O ^ O C C O O CO 51 00 CO CO M C O 
0^3S0030000M - -2'MOaX-* 
r- CI ^ ^1 * * * * * M CO H o C3 C5 CM 

— 


CM 

CO 

eo 

CX> 


•^[quiassv 


i^> OO^OOO'OOOOOO 
CS i— ii^ooi^«rotooooco 

go cmooocmoocmcm^o 


CO 


•pazpdEg 

S^UBJUI 


O O CM OOOOWXSNitfflHC 
HHll O0H i-H i— * i — 1 i — 1 




•pazi?dt?g 
sr/mpy 


-* ^ MM >G O CO 


eo 

M 


•saaqraspi 


OOOO lOMOOOOMLOMHN 
GC O O O ?C CM >~ O O N ro C C 3 J] 
CM CM CM CM CM CM CM CM <M (M CM CM CM CO CO 




no pappy 


W O tJI CN N n< M N « O (M M ^ O CN 
i—l PH C4 r-l iH O) H 


CO 
CO 

1— < 


•UOlj«U]UIBXa 

uo pappy 


<£! O i-l CM ^ C X ■* O 0>1 r- 1 
i-l CO i—i JO CO 




U1J9JL 


rfi O C N X O O i- Ol CO ^ O » N X O) 
■^ rr ■* t« r)< -^ uD O O O «: iC lO O O i " 

occoxaxxxxooccMxxooxx 

Hr-HHr-HHr<nHr-lHrHHl-H 





* Incomplete. + For Western Colleges. J For Am Tract Society- 



Nov. 3 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





017 578 667 3 



